Cal Ballet Steps Out With ‘Nutcracker’ Again

San Diego’s “Nutcracker” season started early this year, with a lavish imported spectacle danced by the prestigious San Francisco Ballet. But to many local balletomanes, the California Ballet’s home-grown version of the old chestnut is a holiday tradition well worth preserving.

Tonight, the Cal Ballet’s hearty “Nutcracker” will bow in at 8 p.m. for a weekend of performances at the East County Performing Arts Center. As usual, the ECPAC production will make do with canned music and a scaled-down decor. When the company moves into the San Diego Civic Theatre on Dec. 18 (where it will remain until Dec. 24), a live orchestra and a more elaborate setting will enhance the “Nutcracker” magic.

This year, the troupe’s staging of the popular Christmas confection will look much the same as it has for years. A full complement of company kids will be decked out as lollipops, candy canes and a myriad of other dainty delectables.

Budding ballerinas and aspiring Cavaliers will flaunt Victorian finery for the party scene or dance the delightful divertissements in the fantasy Candy Kingdom. Teen-aged reindeer will prance through the ice-covered regions of the Snow Kingdom. And a few guest artists will augment the company dancers for the pas de deux .

Only the annual cast changes will distinguish this “Nutcracker” from others. One such change is Calvin Kitten, the 16-year-old dancer tagged by director Maxine Mahon for the part of the Nutcracker Prince.

Unlike most California Ballet dancers, Kitten did not dance his way up the company ranks. In fact, this newcomer had never even performed in a “Nutcracker” production before he found himself cast in this plum role.

“I never danced a toy soldier or anything else, so I really didn’t have any experience on stage,” he said in a recent interview. “I haven’t even seen ‘The Nutcracker’ since I was in third grade.”

As a result, Kitten was “scared, really scared,” when he was chosen for this highly visible role.

“I feel prepared for it. I have been studying ballet since I was 10, and I feel that I can do it. But I don’t really know. I just have to try to get into the character--and it’s scary,” he said.

Although he has had no stage experience to bolster his confidence, he has taken acting lessons at Santana High School. These should help him through the dramatic passages--when the young Nutcracker must tell the amazing tale of the defeat of the marauding mice and the magical voyage that followed, without uttering a single word, in one of the most famous mime segments in ballet.

“It’s weird,” he said, “because I have to act it out (the story), and the (gestures) have to be big. Ms. Mahon always tells me to make them bigger, but I think my shyness makes it harder for me. I don’t really use my arms a lot, and she’s teaching me how to use them.”

Despite his late start as a performer, Kitten is banking on a career as a dancer.

“I want to go to college,” he said, “but I’m very serious about becoming a dancer. I’ve wanted to dance ever since I first saw (Mikhail) Baryshnikov on television. I haven’t done any performing yet, so I don’t know how well I’ll do. I guess it all depends on how I do.”

Kitten and the other 160 dancers who comprise the double cast for this year’s “Nutcracker” will have their chance to shine during two weeks of performances. The small-fry set can mingle with members of the cast after each ECPAC matinee (Saturday and Sunday. These Sugar Plum parties feature refreshments as well.