{"id":1041,"date":"2017-12-15T23:20:44","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T23:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/arts-culture\/long-beach-ballet-adds-a-little-holiday-magic-to-the-nutcracker-with-some-help-from-csulb-engineering-students\/"},"modified":"2017-12-15T23:20:44","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T23:20:44","slug":"long-beach-ballet-adds-a-little-holiday-magic-to-the-nutcracker-with-some-help-from-csulb-engineering-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/art\/long-beach-ballet-adds-a-little-holiday-magic-to-the-nutcracker-with-some-help-from-csulb-engineering-students","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Ballet Adds a Little Holiday Magic to The Nutcracker with Some Help from CSULB Engineering Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"lbballetnutracker\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Long Beach Ballet<\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Christmas classic is getting an extra boost of holiday magic this year with a little help from Cal State Long Beach\u2019s (CSULB) College of Engineering.<\/p>\n

Continuing a beloved holiday tradition, the 35th Anniversary of Long Beach Ballet\u2019s The Nutcracker will have seven performances at the Terrace Theater starting Saturday and will run through Sunday, December 24.<\/p>\n

The ballet\u2019s Artistic Director David Wilcox has gone above and beyond for this year\u2019s production, which boasts a full symphony orchestra, a flying sleigh, a real live horse, on-stage pyrotechnics and a cast of over 200. The scenery was created by former Disney designers Elliot Hessayon and Scott Schaffer, Australian artist Adrian Clark designed the elaborate costumes and magician Franz Harary created the special effects.<\/p>\n

Not to mention, a new feature made possible by a group of CSULB students and Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Chris Beyer, a 7-foot, remote-controlled, steam cloud-producing cube has been designed to let the Nutcracker prince pop out from the top at \u201cjust the right moment,\u201d according to the College of Engineering<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The story of this new addition to the ballet\u2019s 35th Nutcracker starts two years ago, when Computer Engineering Lecturer Bob Ward asked Wilcox what he needed. Wilcox had been throwing around an idea for a \u201chigh-tech version of the human-powered box they\u2019d used for decades,\u201d according to the release.<\/p>\n

The first students to work on the box graduated before it could be made stage-ready, when Beyer organized a new team to continue working on it in October. The students had to incorporate designs on the fly to resolve unforeseen complications, while the box\u2019s size and 1-ton weight further complicated things. Alex Jackson, an electrical engineering senior, said it was quite the learning experience.<\/p>\n