If Christmas is for children, what better way to celebrate the Yuletide season than by watching a timeless, world-famous stage production — in Manila.

Ayala Malls and Pandora team up to present The Nutcracker, as interpreted by Steps Dance Studio.

Ayala Malls president Christopher Maglanoc said: "Ayala Malls has always championed amazing experiences. We create opportunities for people to bond and build new memories. This year, we are celebrating sweet reunions and we do this by gathering families to spark or rediscover traditions, such as watching The Nutcracker together…"

"It's so nice to perform face-to-face again," Steps Dance Studio director Sofia Zobel-Elizalde told Daily Tribune over a candlelit dinner
and cocktails at Wildflour in Greenbelt 3.

Zobel-Elizalde, in an earlier announcement of the show, said: "Christmas is not the same without The Nutcracker."

A fairy ballet in two acts and three scenes, The Nutcracker was the last of three ballets written and orchestrated by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1892.

The plot of The Nutcracker is loosely based on the E.T.A. Hoffmann fantasy story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, about a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and fights the evil Mouse King.

Accompanying the members of Steps Dance Studio are Mandaluyong Children's Choir in Manila, and Loboc Children's Choir in Cebu.

The show, which premiered in November, continues on 3 December at UP Town Center; 4 December, Ayala Malls Circuit; 10 December, Ayala Center Cebu; 11 December, Alabang Town Center; 17 December, Ayala Malls Manila Bay; and 18 December, Glorietta.