Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker

The documentary follows the dancer and director Debbie Allen. Allen has worked on stage and on screen for many years. She runs her own dance school. The school puts on a show every year. It is called the Hot Chocolate Nutcracker. It reworks the classic ballet. The music and the choreography are built afresh. Rehearsals start months ahead. The camera follows the students through that preparation. Children and older students work in the same room. Allen asks a great deal of them. Discipline and encouragement run side by side. The documentary also looks at Allen’s own career. As the performance nears the tension rises. Debbie Allen and Chris Scott appear in the eighty minute documentary. It is an American production Oliver Bokelberg finished in 2020.