It has become a tradition for ballet companies all over the world to perform Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" at Christmas time. John Neumeier's version of "The Nutcracker", however, avoids direct reference to Christmas. In his ballet, the central character Marie celebrates her twelfth birthday and is drawn by the mysterious ballet master Drosselmeier into the fascinating world of dance. It is, in fact, a ballet about ballet itself.
