Fort Wayne, Indiana, Ballet: The Nutcracker for Christmas

The Nutcracker ballet by Tchaikovsky is one of the Christmas season's most enduring traditions. Large cities usually offer Nutcracker performances each December - that's no surprise.

But you might be surprised at the quality of The Nutcracker presented by Fort Wayne, Indiana, a town of 250,000. The production was rated as one of the nation's top five Nutcrackers to see by The Wall Street Journal in 2001, and with good reason. The cast is made up not of professional dancers, but almost exclusively of students at the Fort Wayne Ballet.

The costumes are a visual delight, and amazingly, they are all made in-house at the ballet studio by a talented team of seamstresses and designers.

The production is performed on two weekends (usually the first two weekends of December). The Fort Wayne Philharmonic and the Fort Wayne Children's Choir add extra interest to the ballet by joining the show during the evening performances of opening weekend.

The Nutcracker features dozens of performers, who earn their spots by auditioning in October. The youngest performers, around age 8, may step cautiously onto the stage as parrots or pages, while more advanced teens on pointe may be assigned coveted roles as snowflakes or flowers. Of course, many girls dream of landing the starring role of Clara, the girl whose beloved Nutcracker launches the entire adventure.

The Fort Wayne Ballet offers Sugarplum Parties after most performances. These parties offer the opportunity to munch on cookies and punch while meeting various Nutcracker cast members. Your little aspiring prince or princess would no doubt love being photographed with the lovely Sugar Plum Fairy or the mysterious Herr Drosselmeyer.

For Nutcracker novices, the basic story is this:

Herr and Frau Von Stahlbaum hold a Christmas party at their home. Their children, Clara and Fritz, are excited by the presence of their Uncle Drosselmeyer at the party. Drosselmeyer entertains the party guests with toys that seem to come to life.

The party guests engage in some lovely dancing, after which Drosselmeyer presents the children with gifts. To Clara goes the most prized gift: a Nutcracker. Typical brother Fritz gets a little too boisterous in his playing and breaks the Nutcracker - along with Clara's heart.

Drosselmeyer fixes the Nutcracker as best he can, and the children go to bed as the party wraps up.

Clara tiptoes back to the parlor and falls asleep there with her Nutcracker, but she dreams (?) that some mice attack him. She throws her shoe at the evil queen of mice and kills her, but not before the mouse queen wounds the Nutcracker.

The helpful Drosselmeyer appears again and turns the Nutcracker into a handsome prince! The Nutcracker prince escorts Clara to the Kingdom of Sweets, where they watch a succession of dances from other lands.

After this, Clara returns home, waking up from her wonderful dream.

You'll feel you've been part of a dream as well after attending The Nutcracker. It's a wonderful tradition to make part of your family's Christmas.