‘THE NUTCRACKER’ : Fancy Footwork : Patrons may notice changes in this year’s performance of the perennial holiday story.

“The Nutcracker” ballet is always, well, “The Nutcracker,” that enchanting perennial Christmas story of sugar plum fairies, dancing mice, and, of course, a handsome prince.

But when the ballet takes to the stage in Oxnard next week for its 13th season, patrons will see some changes, some subtle, some not.

First of all, the famous Christmas tree--the one that magically grows on stage--is even bigger and better this year. It’s an all-new tree, one that requires five men backstage to operate with a system of pulleys. It stretches to the rafters and it’s brighter than ever.

Also, more than one ballerina will perform the coveted role of Clara, the girl who is the focus of the ballet, set in turn-of-the-century Germany. Three girls, all under 15, will share the role, each appearing on one of the three performance days, Dec. 4, 5, and 6, at the Oxnard Civic Auditorium.

Gregory Fried will conduct the Ventura County Symphony as it plays Tchaikovsky’s music.

What won’t be so obvious this year is that the Channel Islands Ballet Company, which puts on the production with the Ventura County Symphony, has undergone some upheaval this year.

Last May the company severed its relationship with the Channel Islands Ballet Academie, the Oxnard school that traditionally has trained and supplied the dancers for the production.

The school was taken over about a year ago by Emilka Hulova, who is a former soloist with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. She served as artistic director for last year’s Nutcracker production.

Although the ballet brought in $25,000 in 1990, it lost money last year, a victim of hard economic times. Relations between Hulova and the ballet company became strained, although it’s unclear why.

“She was not a people person,” said Ishmael Messer, president of the company’s board. Hulova wouldn’t allow tickets for the performance to be sold at the school, he said.

Hulova closed the school in June and left town after the contract was severed. The ballet company found itself high and dry without a school while facing another Nutcracker season.

“We were down to $50 in the budget,” Messer said. There was talk of closing the doors. “The recession was impacting most artistic endeavors. Times were hard for our organization too.”

But then along came Kathleen Noblin, a Ventura mother of three who has danced the part of Clara’s mother for 12 years with the company. Having previously toyed with the idea of opening a ballet school, she linked up with noted Romanian ballet instructor Clarissa Boeriu. Eight weeks ago they opened the Ballet Ventura school in Ventura.

Boeriu, 40, trained, performed and taught in Romania before defecting to Italy in 1981. Six years ago, she came to the United States. The last two years she has been a guest instructor at the Cleveland Ballet.

Ballet Ventura is now the “official” school of the ballet company, but there was hardly time for the school to organize and rehearse for the “Nutcracker,” so the company sought help from the Westside Ballet in Santa Monica.

For this year anyway, the production is a collaboration. The artistic directors for the ballet, Yvonne Mounsey and Rosemary Valaire, are from Westside. But about 75 members of the 110-member cast are from the new Ballet Ventura.

According to Noblin, students from Channel Islands Ballet scattered for instruction after the Oxnard school closed. Many, she said, simply stopped dancing. Now, most have come over to the new school, where her pupils already number 135.

Among the school’s students are the three girls performing the role of Clara: Sabrina Rosengren, 12, of Ventura; Amy Womer, 14, of Camarillo, and Megan Horton, 11 of Somis.

“They are just exquisite,” Noblin said. “They each do a very different job.” She likes the idea of having the three share the role, something the Westside Ballet engineered.

“Several children have a chance to do an important part,” she said.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“The Nutcracker” will be performed Dec. 4, 8 p.m.; Dec. 5, 2 and 8 p.m.; and Dec. 6, 2 p.m., at the Oxnard Civic Auditorium, 800 Hobson Way, Oxnard. Tickets are $10-$25. For ticket information, call 643-8646.