The Central Indiana Dance Ensemble (CIDE), a pre-professional ballet company, is performing its annual holiday production, The Nutcracker, from Dec. 13 to 15.

The Nutcracker, written by E. T. A. Hoffmann and orchestrated by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, takes place on Christmas Eve and features the story of a young girl and her imagination through different scenes of the ballet. It is considered a timeless classic and is doted upon by countless individuals during the holiday season.

CIDE performs The Nutcracker annually, and hopes to carry this tradition to bring joy and happiness to audiences young and old. 

Suzann DeLay, artistic director and co-founder of CIDE, said The Nutcracker has become something to look forward to every year by many families. Those who have attended the production for numerous years in a row can be sure to see constant growth in the dancers.

“All the dancers work very hard during the three month preparation and rehearsals,” DeLay said. “There are so many parts, from the littlest Ginger Snap to the Sugar Plum Fairy, that not only we as an audience can see the growth and confidence, but the dancers too.”

DeLay believes a key component of the ballet is the joy that follows it. “While they work hard, we want them to enjoy the moment of the performance and bring the magic of The Nutcracker to life for them and our audience.”

Senior Cocoa Kubo is a dancer at CIDE, although she is currently taking a break. She said The Nutcracker has become a part of her not only because of annual tradition, but because it has taught her patience and self-discipline. 

“I always wanted to be the Sugar Plum Fairy when I got older, so I always worked really hard every year to show my instructors my improvement and my ambition,” she said. “From personal experience, The Nutcracker ballet is truly magical. I think it’s a production everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.”

Senior Claire Barbour is performing as the Sugar Plum Fairy in this year’s The Nutcracker. In being casted as such a major role of the production, she said she is honored and still reminisces over her first experiences with dancing in The Nutcracker from 10 years ago.

“Through my dancing I hope I can put smiles on everyone’s faces in the audience for them to feel as excited watching me as I will be to perform for them,” Barbour said. “Especially the young girls in the audience who were just like I was growing up, I hope to show them that if you have a dream or a dream role, like the Sugar Plum was to me, to never stop chasing it and to never give up.”