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IOWA CITY — American Ballet Theatre treated Hancher audiences to the most delectable pairing of artistry and excellence Saturday afternoon and evening with “Whipped Cream.” This sight and sound dreamscape, penned by Richard Strauss in the early 1920s, folded 29 locals dressed as cupcakes, petit fours and more, along with Orchestra Iowa’s magnificent musicians, into the mix with professional dancers of the highest caliber. It’s the venerable troupe helmed by Mikhail Baryshnikov in the 1980s and now home to principal dancer extraordinaire Misty Copeland. And no, Copeland wasn’t in this touring production, but ABT soloist Cassandra Trenary danced the lead role of Princess Praline fluidly and flawlessly during Saturday’s matinee, as did principal dancer Devon Teuscher, appearing as Princess Tea Flower. (Soloist Luciana Paris made her debut as Princess Praline in the evening performance.)

Children will see a magical world of colorful confections dancing across the Hancher stage Saturday (4/6) afternoon and evening. Adults, however, will see through those layers into a more sinister filling as the action leaps through a story re-imagined from “Schlagobers” (“Whipped Cream”), a full-length ballet Richard Strauss penned in the early 1920s. It’s the story of a young boy and his friends, who go to a confectioner’s shop after celebrating their first communion. The Boy becomes ill after eating more than his fill of his favorite sweet: whipped cream. After the children leave, the sweets spring to life in the shop, and the scene fades into the Boy’s whipped cream fantasy world. He awakens, however, in a sinister hospital room, tended by a doctor and his army of nurses. While they are away, Princess Praline arrives with her own procession to rescue the boy and whisk him off to her kingdom.

One bass, one guitar, three lovely voices, and a banjo: This is how to put on a lovely, intimate, Saturday night show. Only Canadian banjo player Kaia Kater could pull this off with such grace. Performing with bass player Andrew Ryan and guitarist Daniel Rougeau, Kater lit up Hancher’s Strauss Hall on March 30. She put on two performances, at 6:30 and 9 p.m., and though they were fairly short at a little over an hour each, each was memorable.

Despite needing a translator for a recent interview with the Spanish-speaking Havana Cuban All-Stars, nothing is lost in translation when it comes to the music. The energetic band will deliver an eclectic mix of Cuban sounds when it swings through Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City on March 14. “The diversity of music is what makes (our) music so great,” bandleader Michel Padron said via an interpreter. “I think Cuban music is unique because of the different rhythms used — Son, cha cha cha and others. We use four different rhythms in the first four songs of our show.”