24 years of dreams with Chattanooga Ballet's 'Nutcracker'

After 24 years, Bob Willie has yet to tire of "The Nutcracker."

Next year, the Chattanooga Ballet will celebrate its silver anniversary of performing Tchaikovsky's beloved Christmas classic. Willie, the company's artistic director, said each year brings new changes to an old favorite.

This year, for example, the Russian dance will be a duet rather than a solo, to feature more of the talented dancers.

"The quality of our dancers continues to improve every year," he said. The change, he said, does not affect the tone of the scene. "We just wanted to provide more opportunities for quality dancers."

The performance is a collaboration between the Chattanooga Ballet and the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera. Music director Kayoko Dan, Willie said, has been "wonderful" and "extremely attentive to detail."

"She's been great with our dancers," he said, "going through the music with them, making sure tempos are right on. She's put a great deal of work into it."

Despite the years put into the Christmas ballet, Willie, who will once again play the role of Herr Drosselmeyer, said he never tires of the production.

"It's never boring," he said, "because there are different people involved ... and growth over the years."

Based on E.T.A. Hoffman's story, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," the ballet is about a young girl, Clara (sometimes called Marie), who is given a nutcracker for Christmas. After her unruly brother, Fritz, breaks the toy, her grandfather repairs it and shows Clara that the nutcracker is, in fact, magical. After defeating an evil mouse king, the Nutcracker turns into a prince and whisks Clara away to the Land of Sweets, ruled by the lovely Sugar Plum Fairy (a role danced by Amanda Walker Gray) and her cavalier.

Clara and the Nutcracker Prince are privy to performances by sweets from around the world -- tea from China, chocolate from Spain, Russian candy canes. The Sugar Plum Fairy and cavalier dance a pas de deux.

In the end, of course, it's all a dream.

The score by P.I. Tchaikovsky is one of the world's most beloved balletic compositions.

"It's about the spirit of the holidays," Willie said. "'The Nutcracker' is so about family and children, which is what people want to fill their holidays with."