URBAN NUTCRACKER

Ballet fused with swing, hip-hop, and urban tap; Tchaikovsky fused with the "pulsing beat of Duke Ellington." A Chosen Few performing South African gumboot dancing. Ricardo Foster serving up a hip-hop/acrobatic version of the Russian dance. The a cappella harmonies of VariAsians. How many reasons do you need to go see the fifth annual edition of Anthony Williams’s Urban Nutcracker? Okay, we’ll give you two more: former Boston Ballet principal Adriana Suárez as Sugar Plum in two performances, December 11 and 18, accompanied by former Boston Ballet corps dancer Gianni Di Marco. It’s all from BalletRox at the Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Rd, Dorchester | December 10-11 + 17-18 @ 2 pm | December 17 @ 7:30 pm | $15-$35 | 866.468.7619 or http://www.ticketweb.com/.

CHRISTMAS REVELS

For its 35th annual holiday presentation, Christmas Revels is going back to where it all (figuratively) started: Haddon Hall in 1399 Derbyshire, where on the shortest day of the year the giant doors have been thrown open so the villagers and the rest of us can enjoy the Children’s Waits, the Bell Tower Singers, "The Adventures of Fauvel," the Cambridge Symphonic Brass Ensemble, the Pinewoods Morris Men, "St. George and the Dragon," and "The Lord of the Dance" | Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St, Cambridge | December 16-30 | $20-$42; $12-$32 children | 617.496.2222 or http://www.revels.org/.

CARNAVAL BRASILEIRO

You don’t have to be Brazilian to feel homesick for Rio de Janeiro in Carnaval season. But that’s how FestaMundo’s Carnaval Brasileiro got started back in the ’70s, as an attraction for Brazilian students at the University of Texas at Austin. It grew to attract some 5500 revelers from all over the US, and now it’s coming to Boston, promising "driving samba beats, exotic costumes, and the uninhibited euphoria of more than 1800 partygoers decorated in body paint, exotic masks, sequins, feathers, and beads." The thing is, some of Rio’s exotic costumes are pretty skimpy, and we’re wondering how uninhibited everybody’s euphoria will be in, say, 20-degree weather, but we gather this is an indoor event that won’t require you to parade down Arlington Street. With Grupo Saveiro, Brazilian rapper Davi Vieira, and many more samba drummers, dancers, and musicians plus food and a cash bar, it’s at the Castle at Park Plaza, 64 Arlington St, Boston | February 18 @ 8 pm | $44 | 800.965.4827 or http://www.carnavalboston.com/.