Before the hustle and bustle of the holiday season gets underway, one local dance school is encouraging families with young children to slow down and enjoy some quality time and tea.

In Motion School of Dance will be hosting its first ever Nutcracker Tea Party, taking place this Sunday from 3pm until 5pm.

The school’s founder Lizz Pimentel is encouraging young people of all ages to come out in their prince and princess attire to enjoy hot drinks and refreshments, arts and crafts, as well as a sneak peak of excerpts from The Nutcracker performance, kicking off next month.

Ms Pimentel said: “We wanted to give kids something fun around this time of year, so are hosting a tea party for girls and boys and hope they come dressed up in their princess and prince outfits.

“The whole afternoon is organised, so parents don’t have to worry if there will be enough for their kids to do.

“There will be a silent auction, with adult and kid related items, like dance classes and a huge variety of other things. We will also be performing little excerpts from the Nutcracker performance from the show, having arts and crafts activities and giving the kids an opportunity to learn a dance with the cast.

“We will also have a few of our principles in costume walking around, so the children can get autographs from characters like Clara, Sugar Plum Fairy and the Snow Queen and see them in their special handmade tutus which are beaded and visually beautiful.”

The Nutcracker is a ballet based on the 19th-century tale by E.T.A. Hoffman. It tells the tale of a girl’s beloved nutcracker, who comes to life one Christmas to defeat the evil Mouse King, before whisking the heroine away for a magical adventure in the Kingdom of the Sweets.

Ms Pimentel said the local dance school expected the holiday production to be a “one off event”, back in 2009. However, each year she gets inundated with requests from students, parents and the wider community to stage the show again.

The feedback from the performance has been so great, Ms Pimentel decided to stage three shows this year, instead of the usual two.

She said: “It’s a really nice family event to bring people together for the family season and a heartwarmer, feel good type of production. I think it’s especially great around this time of year while everyone is stuck doing all the Christmas shopping and caught up in the busyness of the season.

“It allows our dancers to have other opportunities to perform outside of the one huge performance we do with the school in the summer months,” she explained.

The dance school director said she plans to stage The Nutcracker as long as there is interest in the community.

She also hopes the tea part could become a part of the tradition going forward.

“There’s not a lot of events for kids that make them feel like they’re special where they might meet people that they know or see some new faces, so something like this makes them feel special because they are coming for afternoon tea.

“I think just knowing its their party and at a nice place, the Gazebo Room in the Hamilton Princess, not just a school hall somewhere, makes it very formal and gives them something exciting to look forward to.”

She said they have tried to keep ticket prices reasonable so the event will appeal to a wide cross section of people in the community. However, there is only a limited amount of tickets available; Ms Pimentel encourages people to buy tickets in advance to avoid disappointment.

Tickets to the Nutcracker Tea Party will be $40 for those who order in advance from www.ptix.bm; or $50 at the door.

Money raised through the tea party will go towards dance scholarships and also help fund The Nutcracker production itself.

Anyone looking to see The Nutcracker ballet on December 13 and 14, can buy general tickets for $35 or patron tickets for $60, at www.ptix.bm.