This essay was photographed over the course of two years and four performances of the Triangle Youth Ballet's annual holiday production of The Nutcracker, in the historic Carolina Theater of downtown Durham, North Carolina. Children, teens, and the ballet company's parents, instructors, and volunteers collaborate yearly to produce the magical hoiday ballet originally choreographed byMarius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.