Many of the island’s young dancers will perform one of the best loved festive-themed ballets next weekend.

The Manx Ballet Company will stage a version of ’The Nutcracker’, at the Gaiety Theatre on Friday and Saturday, November 22 and 23, from 7.30pm, with a matinee performance on Saturday afternoon from 2.30pm.

More than 75 young ballet dancers will take part in the spectacular Christmas dance show, based around the music of Tchaikovsky and set in a world where all things are possible, toys come to life, flowers dance, and a handsome Prince transports us to the land of sweets.

They have created a show which has been described as ’an ’elegant and visually rich ballet production, which promises to entertain every member of the family, from toddlers through to great grandparents’.

This will be only the third production undertaken by the Manx Ballet company, whose first concert was a ballet version of Snow White, in 2014, which was followed by a performance of Alice in Wonderland in 2017.

The company has been in rehearsals since the spring, and have collected together a team of dancers who are aged between eight to 18-years-old, taken from dance schools across the island.

Tickets are priced at £20, with £16 for seniors and under 16s, available from the Welcome Centre and the Villa Gaiety Box office, on 600555, or online from villagaiety.com