Nutcrackers For All

The music. The costumes. The dancing. The roles. The fantasy.

For ballerina Megan Cancellieri, “The Nutcracker” is not just a holiday tradition. It has defined the 29-year-old’s career thus far. She has performed practically every role—from a polichinelle and the Mouse King to Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Her brother, Kevin, has never missed one of her performances with The Conservancy of Ballet and Danse Arts, which Ms. Cancellieri now runs, inside the Southampton High School auditorium. He’s been smiling from the front row, in the same seat, for six shows every season over the last 24 years.

She danced for him. And this year, she will again during her dance school’s three performances from Friday, December 6, through Sunday, December 8, alongside 50 cast members age 3½ to 66.

Unfortunately, he won’t be there this year. On February 6, the 32-year-old—who had Down syndrome—died of unknown causes at home in Southampton. This year’s performances will be dedicated to him, Ms. Cancellieri said, and a dance scholarship will be started in his name.

Her 66-year-old father, Russell, will be with her on stage this year, however.

“My dad does the Grandfather in the party scene,” Ms. Cancellieri explained last week during a telephone interview from her Southampton studio. “‘The Nutcracker’ is that touch of magic at Christmastime. And it’s still an innocent magic. It’s capturing your childhood. When you’re little, you still imagine things. A little girl getting a doll, going to this magical world and seeing all these amazing things. I don’t think my life would be complete without it.”

The 19th-century ballet, set to the score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, tells the beloved tale of Clara. It is Christmas Eve and the young girl is enjoying a family party when her godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer, appears with four lifelike dolls in tow, who dance to her delight—a favorite scene of Studio 3 owner Diane Shumway. She strays furthest from the original production with “Mixed Nuts,” which will incorporate tap, jazz, contemporary and hip-hop into the standard ballet during three performances from Friday, December 13, through Sunday, December 15, at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor.

Last year, Ms. Shumway and her daughter, Meredith, set the second annual “Mixed Nuts” during the 1950s with a jazzy, rock-and-roll feel. This year, it’s all about the 1920s. Think, “The Great Gatsby,” she said last week during a telephone interview.

“We have the whole cast on stage doing a choreographed Charleston,” she said. “We’ve taken that character of Charlie Chaplin and made him Drosselmeyer. And the dolls are these tap-dancing flappers.”

When the dolls finish dancing, the godfather puts them away and gives Clara a wooden nutcracker—which her brother, Fitz, swiftly breaks. During the night, after everyone has gone to bed, Clara checks on the nutcracker and, as she approaches, the clock strikes midnight. Mice fill the room. Suddenly, she’s caught in a battle between an army of gingerbread soldiers, led by her now life-sized Nutcracker, and the rodents, led by the Mouse King.

“We’ve taken out the Rat King,” Ms. Shumway said of the role of Mouse King. “That’s going to be Al Capone. We have gangsters as the rats, the Rat Pack. Instead of soldiers, they’re the Keystone Cops. We have a whole silent-movie flavor to the show.”

As the war wages on, tin soldiers and dolls carry away the wounded. When the Mouse King advances on the injured Nutcracker, Clara throws her slipper at him—distracting him long enough for the Nutcracker to attack. The mice retreat and the Nutcracker transforms into a handsome prince, who leads Clara through the moonlit night into a pine forest, where snowflakes dance around them.

It’s this part of the ballet that Hampton Ballet Theatre Company director Sara Jo Strickland said is one of best.

“The number I really enjoy is the ‘Waltz of the Snowflakes’ because of the music and the costumes,” Ms. Strickland said last week during a telephone interview. “And then the second act in the Land of Sweets is so much fun. The numbers I’ve danced and still enjoy watching are what we call Spanish Chocolate and Arabian Coffee. And then everyone’s favorite is the Candy Cane dance—the Russian dance—because the music is so familiar.”

Without pause, she sang the melody from memory—ingrained after decades of performances, which this year will be from Friday, December 13, through Sunday, December 15, at Guild Hall in East Hampton.

“It epitomizes ‘The Nutcracker,’” she continued. “But the crowning glory of the whole show is, of course, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Cavalier.”

At the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, ballet professionals will pair up for the pas de deux while sharing the stage with 70 students from the Nancy & Frederick DeMatteis Arts Education Program and DanceCore Ballet, according to choreographer Christiana Bitonti. That production will stage from Friday, December 13, through Sunday, December 15.

“The Nutcracker” moment Ms. Bitonti looks forward to most is right before the curtain even rises, she said.

“Right before the show begins, everybody backstage, everybody waiting and just ready to have a really wonderful show. That’s it,” she said last week during a telephone interview. “I just really love that.”

The opposite is true of Ms. Cancellieri. Curtain call is her favorite, she said. And then seeing her brother after the show.

“I always danced for my brother. He was such a big part of my life. I’m pretty sure he was my biggest fan,” she said. “He was always in that front seat. We’re reserving it. I figure he’ll be with us in spirit and I’ll look out like I always do when I’m dancing. I’ll look out to that seat and dance for him.”

The Conservancy of Ballet and Danse Arts will kick off “The Nutcracker” season on Friday, December 6, at 7 p.m. at the Southampton High School auditorium. Additional performances will be held on Saturday, December 7, at 5 p.m. and Sunday, December 8, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15, $10 for seniors and free for children age 2 and under. For more information, call 537-1684 or visit dansearts.com.

Studio 3 will stage “Mixed Nuts” on Friday, December 13, and Saturday, December 14, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, December 15, at 2 p.m. at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor. Tickets are $20. For more information, call 537-3008 or email tickets@dancestudio3.com.

Hampton Ballet Theatre School will present “The Nutcracker” on Friday, December 13, at 7 p.m., Saturday, December 14, at 1 and 7 p.m., and Sunday, December 15, at 2 p.m. at Guild Hall in East Hampton. Advance tickets are $25 and $20 for children under age 12. Orchestra seating tickets are $30 at the door. Premium orchestra, box seats, balcony and group rates are also available. For more information, call 237-4810 or email info@hamptonballettheatreschool.com.

The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center will present “The Nutcracker ‘Sweet’” on Saturday, December 14, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, December 15, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15. For more information, call 288-1500 or visit whbpac.org.