Features

Dance Arts Los Alamos just wrapped up its performances of “The Nutcracker,” but this magical Christmas tale can still be experienced in Los Alamos.

The Los Alamos Community Winds will perform P.I. Tchaikovsky’s suite from “The Nutcracker,” at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Betty Ehart Senior Center.

The suite will feature seven to eight separate movements from the “The Nutcracker.” These movements include the “Chinese Dance” and the “Arabian Dance.”

Jennifer Necker, a Piñon Elementary School fourth-grader, has made good on a promise that she would one day show a dog at the American Kennel Club National Championship Dog Show. Necker, a member of the Los Alamos Dog Obedience Club and the English Setter Association of America, will be showing an English Setter at the show in Long Beach, Calif., Saturday.

The Family Strengths Network is valuable in many ways, but this month, things will get even more significant with an event called, Special Saturdays. The program is for parents raising children with special needs, which can be either developmental or physical.

The Family Resource Center, located at 1990 Diamond Drive and operated by Family Strengths Network staff provides the opportunity for interaction courtesy of Los Alamos National Bank.

Rebecca Hollis of White Rock is thrilled to have the opportunity for her child that is stress free from the parent perspective.

Out damn spot!

An old theme with a hundred new meanings binds the Santa Fe Film Festival.

Three days into the five-day Santa Fe Film Festival, I got a handle on what the event was all about this year.

Not that 250 films, each little spark flying in a different direction, can be summed up easily without a trace of subjective wrangling, especially when one has only seen a small fraction of the work.

I didn’t realize until later the obvious fact that a theme by definition would have to be there at the beginning and suffused throughout.

We look at a tough topic this week, Asset #31, Restraint. According to the Search-Institute, “Youth are more likely to grow up healthy when they believe it is important not to be sexually active or to use alcohol or other drugs.”

The key to being successful in this area is conversation and education. When I sat on a local board looking at poor youth choices, I suggested that we get some kids to join us that were in trouble and not just high achievers. There were adults in the room that looked at me as if I were from another planet.

Dance Arts Los Alamos (DALA) is proud to present its 13th production of “The Nutcracker” as part of Los Alamos’ Winterfest weekend. Based on the story, “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice” by E.T.A. Hoffman, and set to the beloved music by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the ballet tells the story of Clara, her enigmatic Godfather Drosselmeyer and the magical nutcracker doll he brings her as a Christmas gift. “The Nutcracker” was first performed on Dec. 18, 1892 in St.

My first memories of holiday tunes were the ones that my family would sing as the days approached Dec. 25. The four of us would be in the car and we would all belt out some song, or after the Christmas Eve dinner at my aunt and uncle’s house, we would begin caroling around the table.

As I grew older, when December would roll around, my family would turn to the professionals. A Peter, Paul and Mary tape would constantly play in the car and my mother would often put Emmylou Harris’ holiday CD or the Kingston Trio’s Christmas CD on her CD player in the house.

As a feature of Barranca Elementary School’s fifth and sixth grade GATE classes’ global outreach, students learn about how some children in Cambodia do not have schools, or teachers and often not enough to eat.

In response, Barranca students are collaborating with Cambodia’s Hope, a local charity supporting schools and orphans in Cambodia to help children on the other side of the globe by supporting the Alphabet Soup program where just 78 cents per day supports a child in school and gives them a nutritious meal.

The annual Los Alamos County Science Fair will take place on Jan. 24 in the Los Alamos High School cafeteria. The public is invited to view the projects between 12:30-2 p.m.

Students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade will display their projects in elementary class, junior and senior divisions.

The elementary projects are divided into three categories. The students in junior and senior divisions will compete for first, second and third place in 17 categories.