Young Dancer Gets Her 'Nutcracker' Wish

Dec. 21, 2003 -- Every year hundreds of child dancers dream of performing in the Christmas classic The Nutcracker at New York's Lincoln Center. Like most things in New York, though, competition for the prime roles is tough. But one little girl who hoped for a big role in last year's performance learned that persistence can make all the difference in making a dream come true.

Last year, then-8-year-old Anjelica Fellini and 121 other children were trying out for New York City's School of American Ballet, one of the most prestigious in the world. It's through the school that children who perform in The Nutcracker are eventually chosen. The auditioners were inspected by Garielle Whittle, the children's ballet mistress for the New York City Ballet, and Kay Mazzo, the co-chairman of the school's faculty.

The story — nearly 200 years old — is about a girl who receives a toy nutcracker as a Christmas gift from a mysterious toymaker. In some productions, the girl's name is Clara. In this one, choreographed by the late George Balanchine, her name is Marie. In Marie's dream, the Nutcracker comes to life and first defeats an evil Mouse King who threatens the household, then becomes a prince who takes Marie to a land of sweets on an enchanted journey.

The major dance parts, of course, are performed by the world-renowned New York City Ballet.

Children play the roles of angels and toy soldiers. And there's one small part for a bunny, although it's not the one most kids imagine themselves in.

Most of the girls want to be in the ballet's party scene, wearing beautiful dresses with ribbons in their hair.

More than 100 kids are involved in the production, split into two casts — called the "A" cast and the "B" cast, both considered equal — which perform on alternate nights. Dressed in elaborate costumes, the young dancers step naturally into the fantasy they've become part of. The bunny may not dance in the handmade silk and taffeta skirts the other girls wear in the party scene, but she is still part of the dream.

Last year, 20/20 was there on the day that the lucky group of kids who had made it into the school were chosen to be in The Nutcracker. We watched Anjelica as she anxiously waited to see if her name would be called.

It was called, but she didn't get to dance the role of a party girl. She was given the less popular role of the bunny.

Anjelica put on a brave face, despite her disappointment. "I thought that being a party girl would be great, but you know what, I don't want to be a party girl anymore," she said. "It's the bunny I wanted to be, really."

On opening night — in the show business tradition of "there are no small parts, only small actors" — Anjelica brought a full measure of enthusiasm to the bunny's one big moment — pulling the tail of the evil Mouse King and jumping high off the stage.

Then she exited and went straight home. She wasn't listed in the program; she wasn't brought back for a curtain call. And that was where our story ended last year.

This year, her second year in the school, when the Nutcracker season rolled around again, Anjelica was hoping that she had earned a promotion to a bigger role — maybe in the party scene.

Again, there was that agonizing wait to be chosen. But this time, Anjelica was called into a kind of lineup.

What she was told was something she might have expected to hear from a fairy godmother. She had been chosen for a starring role — the B cast's Marie.

She had come a long way in the last year.

In the adult view of the world, where grown-ups like to toy in magic, the moral is that with a little hard work, you may go out there a bunny, but you'll come back a star. But here, there is still magic in toys — and to Anjelica, the best things about her leading role, she said, were twirling around in Marie's bed, dancing with mice, and fighting side by side with the Nutcracker.

"When I was the bunny, I just dreamed of that," she said. Her advice to this year's bunny: "Jump higher."