The Nutcracker, a longstanding holiday tradition beloved for the beauty and familiarity of Tchaikovsky’s music and Petipa’s choreography, dates back to the 1890s, when it was first performed in St. Petersburg.

This weekend brings two Nutcrackers to local stages. Santa Cruz Dance Theater, under the direction of Conrad and Melanie Useldinger, promises splendor in The Nutcracker at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. And Santa Cruz City Ballet, in its 15th year at Cabrillo College’s Crocker Theater, conjures up The Nutcracker: Experience The Magic under the direction of Vicki Bergland and Shannon Chipman.

Santa Cruz Dance Theater Artistic Director Conrad Useldinger feels a powerful sense of community with his work at Santa Cruz Dance Theater, a new dance company centered around “bringing world-class contemporary and classical dance to Santa Cruz.” Useldinger’s goals this year and beyond are to wow the audience with splendor, skill and community.

“We go over the top with tech. In some moments, our Nutcracker feels more like a rock concert or a light show,” Useldinger exults. Part of his excitement is due to Santa Cruz Dance Theater bringing in top-level dancers, including Lucien Postlewaite, principal dancer at Pacific Northwest Ballet, and independent dancers from San Jose, San Francisco, Chico, Denver and New York City. The show also features student dancers and community members, such as Vice Mayor Renee Golder and City Councilwoman Sonja Brunner, who make guest appearances in the party scene and take part in the Nutcracker’s legacy.

“Live performance is not a given. It takes stewardship and fostering. Doing everything you can to support live performance makes a huge difference,” says Useldinger, who is also the artistic director of Agape Dance.

Santa Cruz Dance Theater’s The Nutcracker runs Dec. 21–22 at 1 and 4:30pm at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St., Santa Cruz. Tickets: $20.50-$70.50. Visit SantaCruzDanceTheater.org.

New Touches

Shannon Chipman, artistic director of Santa Cruz City Ballet, and veteran ballet teacher Vicki Bergland have co-directed Nutcracker: Experience the Magic since 2009. But their work together began in 1988, when Chipman was a teenager, playing the Snow Queen in the first Nutcracker at Cabrillo College, under the direction of Gene Dunphy with Bergeland as assistant director. After leaving Santa Cruz and attending the Juilliard School in NYC in 1990, Chipman reunited with Bergland and the duo have been training the next generation of local dancers at the International Academy of Dance, the official school of Santa Cruz City Ballet since 2006.

“The magic grows with each production. We delight in watching dancers grow up performing in the Nutcracker from tiny gingersnaps to solo roles. It is amazing to see the whole community working together, even parents rehearsing the party scene with their kids, and helping backstage in so many ways with the production,” Chipman says.

Something Santa Cruz City Ballet hopes to accomplish each year is to bring an entertaining, fresh take on Nutcracker while preserving the classical tradition with more than 100 local dancers and guest artists from the Bay Area and beyond. “This year audiences can enjoy a swing beat ‘Green Tea’ remix of Tchaikovsky’s music, along with new choreography and costumes, and colorful ‘Lion’ dancers from Chinatown. No two years are the same,” Chipman says.

The Nutcracker: Experience The Magic runs Dec. 21–22 at 1 and 4:30pm at Cabrillo College’s Crocker Theater, 6500 Lower Perimeter Road, Aptos. Tickets: $51–$61. cabrillovapa.universitytickets.com.