Toledo Ballet has spread Christmas cheer for over 80 years with its top-tier production of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.

Eric Otto, the ballet’s artistic director, wants to establish a new tradition: spreading Halloween fear.

This weekend schoolmaster Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman, Katrina van Tassel, and “Brom Bones” debut a two-act ballet at the Valentine Theatre at 7 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday.

“I'd like to start a new holiday family tradition here in Toledo, where people can get excited about Halloween and go and see a Halloween show and a big Halloween ballet,” Otto said. “I thought it would be a lot of fun, especially when you're a kid, to get dressed up in costumes, you can go to the theater, and you listen to live music.”

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is an original ballet written, choreographed, and directed by Otto with music composed by Jonathan Heck.

“It's loosely, loosely based on the Washington Irving story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but still, the same characters,” Otto said. “It takes place in 1790 in mid to late October. Just think very fall, October, cold.”

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