Last week PBS broadcast George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker (TM) live as part of the Live from Lincoln Center series. I felt like I was in the audience watching this holiday performance. The only difference was that we also got a backstage tour that included interviews with several cast members, as well as Peter Martins, Artistic Director of New York City Ballet.

One of the interviews was with the young children playing the lead roles of Marie and the Nutcracker Prince. Both are ten years old and this is their second year performing these roles. What a thrill it must be to perform lead roles with the NYCB at such a young age!

It makes me wonder what the future brings for these two young dancers. Will they end up dancing with a professional dance company when they are older? Will it be New York City Ballet? Or will they go on to do something totally different? Either way, I’m sure that  they will always have amazing memories of this experience.

I never had the opportunity to perform Nutcracker with a professional company, but did dance in a local production of this holiday classic.  Those performances usually included a couple guest dancers from professional companies. I would watch backstage in awe when they danced.

And now, whenever I hear the Nutcracker music, it brings back memories of that fabulous time.