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Going nuts: dancers can develop strange rituals by the umpteenth Nutcracker performance.

Article Excerpt
Ah, the holidays. For so many Nutcracker devotees, the two hours spent each Christmas with Clara and her candyland fantasies is an event to look forward to. Like Santa, it only comes one night a year. But for the dancers who can chart their Nutcracker evolution from high school auditoriums to 3,000-seat opera houses, the ballet represents not one magical journey each December but many, many trips, over and over again. This winter, a dancer may log anywhere from a dozen performances over a few weekends to 45 shows over a five-week period. How do these professionals deal with the familiarity some would say tedium--of a ballet that many have been performing annually their whole lives? Love for the art aside, when you're faced with a giant mouse suit for the sixth day in a row, you start looking for creative ways to cope.

According to New York City Ballet soloist Daniel Ulbricht, the way to avoid Nutcracker burnout is to think out of the box--to find ways to alleviate repetitive stress and lift flagging spirits without compromising the integrity of a performance. Ulbricht's morale boosting...

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