From the San Diego Arts Community...

For San Diego dance buffs, the Christmas countdown began even before the Thanksgiving festivities got under way. And the healthy mix of home-growns and imported dance events will continue throughout the holiday season.

The dance world’s favorite Christmas gift is “The Nutcracker,” and this year’s solid crop of the ever-popular ballet comes in two sizes.

San Francisco Ballet’s “Nutcracker” came and went this week. It was the second time the world-class ballet company showcased its lavish spectacle in San Diego, and, once again, the cast included a bevy of local dance students in supporting roles.

San Diego’s own American Ballet Ensemble, directed by former Balanchine ballerina Lynda Yourth, also got an early start with its fourth annual “Nutcracker,” but not on home turf. The touring show opened Nov. 26 at the Teatro del Estado in Mexicali.

The American Ballet Ensemble (ABE) was making its first appearance in that border town, but it is no stranger to Mexican ballet fans. The company, which enlists its dancers from both sides of the border, has been performing in Tijuana for years. ABE will return to the Centro Cultural de Tijuana on Dec. 3-5, before making its local debut at San Diego City College Theatre Dec. 9.

This full-length “Nutcracker” will continue its San Diego run through Dec. 11, then again the following weekend, with former Dutch National Ballet dancer Peter Schetters as the Cavalier and Veronica Apodaca as his Sugar Plum Fairy.

San Diego’s longest-running “Nutcracker” is the California Ballet’s version, choreographed by founding director Maxine Mahon. California Ballet offers two versions of the ballet at different venues. Its opening production, slated for the East County Performing Arts Center on Dec. 9-11, is danced to taped accompaniment and without some of the spectacular scenic effects associated with major stagings.

When the ballet moves to the downtown Civic Theatre for a longer run (Dec. 16-18 and Dec. 20-24), the production takes on more magic, with falling snow, a growing Christmas tree, and live music from the orchestra pit.

Guest artist Mark Lanham will be partnered with the company’s resident prima ballerina Denise Dabrowski in the leading roles. Also featured in this “Nutcracker,” are Karen Evans-Poolos, Patrick Nollet.

North County “Nutcracker” enthusiasts will have some choices closer to home this year. New West Ballet Theatre will dance a complete “Nutcracker” at El Camino High School’s Truax Performing Arts Center on Dec. 20-23. Eugenia Keefer, artistic director of the troupe, is alternating with Suzanne Adkins as Sugar Plum with Paul Giovinazzo as the cavalier for both.

North Coast Ballet has never done a full-length “Nutcracker,” but it is readying an expanded version of its mini-”Nutcracker” this year. It will feature two of the ballet’s major scenes--the Snow Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Sweets.

North Coast’s “Nutcracker,” with guest artists Duncan Schute and Angie Pabst, will be danced Dec. 17-18 at UC San Diego’s Mandeville Auditorium.

If you’re game for a trip to Orange County, you can see American Ballet Theatre’s “Nutcracker,” choreographed by Mikhail Baryshnikov (it opened Tuesday and runs through Dec. 11) at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

ABT won’t bring its “Nutcracker” any closer to town than Orange County, but even couch potatoes can catch the TV version, starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland, on Dec. 2 at 9 p.m.

There’s more to the December dance scene than the perennial “Nutcracker,” to the relief of many serious dance-watchers. The San Diego Foundation for the Performing Arts offers an interesting alternative--the San Diego debut of the Batsheva Dance Company of Israel.

The Israeli troupe will be performing a mixed bag of modern dances, from the highly-acclaimed new wave choreography of Mark Morris to the world premiere of a work by ex-Pilobolus dancer Daniel Ezralow. The two different programs will be danced at Symphony Hall on Dec. 5-6.

The dance department at Palomar College has abandoned its traditional holiday offering this year. Instead, it will team up with the music department for a program of Christmas music and dance, dubbed “A Holiday Festival of Music and Dance,” on Dec. 16-18 at the campus theater. There are four new repertory pieces on the bill, all danced to the accompaniment of the Palomar Community Orchestra.