Moscow Ballet's 'Great Russian Nutcracker' twirls into Minneapolis

Moscow Ballet's "The Great Russian Nutcracker" returns to the Orpheum Theatre this week on its 130-city tour of the United States and Canada. This lavish production boasts dancers trained in the "Vaganova Method," named for 20th-century Russian dancer Agrippina Vaganova, who incorporated French and Italian traditions to create a technique both emotionally alive and technically adroit. The quintessentially Russian production features giant puppets, hand-painted sets and a theme of peace and harmony between nations. (7 p.m. Fri., 1 & 5 p.m. Sat., the Orpheum, $32-$102, 1-800-982-2787, hennepintheatretrust.org)