Paige - Sugar Plum Fairy - Dancer Spotlight

Paige, 16 - Sugar Plum Fairy; 10th grade, Laurel Springs

This is my 6th Nutcracker now and it is truly my favorite part of the year. I’m the most excited about the weekend before Thanksgiving. That is when we do the first full run through and personally it’s the first feeling of the whole show coming together. We are all reviewing and talking in the familiar studios waiting for our cues and calls and it’s always the feeling of “oh we are doing this” and it is the best.

Every year of Nutcracker has a bunch of favorite memories but one that always makes me smile is when I got stuck in the transformation box the year I was Clara. I always laugh at the feeling of panic I felt as I felt the box shift towards the wall, the sudden irrational thought of what if I am stuck in here? The next year when I returned to the box, the first thing I said was “please don’t lock me in here again” !

I have discovered a lot about myself through MPBT Nutcracker: I am a dancer because I love to perform, I live for long rehearsals, I specifically love ballets. This once-a-year Nutcracker has given everything me . The amazing volunteers, board, staff and dancers I am always so happy to work with again and again. MPBT Nutcracker means so much because it has given me an opportunity that some people don’t get. I’m so excited to be a part of it again!

#mpbtnutcracker2025 photo credit @amberkane.photography