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Vail Friends of Dance presents students from the Vail Youth Ballet Company and Vail Valley Academy of Dance in the classic holiday production of “The Nutcracker” Dec. 19-21. Two guest artists who have performed with renowned companies nationwide — Nathan Crewe-Kluge of the Mareck Center for Dance in Columbia, Missouri as the Nutcracker Prince, and Oliver Greene-Cramer, a freelance dancer as the Sugar Plum Cavalie — join a cast of 92 other performers. Members from the community also participate as Drosselmeyer, Party Parents and Mother Ginger.

“This high-level local production features incredible artistry, breathtaking dancing, beautiful costumes and colorful sets that are on-par with performances seen from large-scale, big-city studios,” said Ashley Calligan, Vail Valley Academy of Dance owner and artistic director.

Tatum Prigge stars as Clara, who takes a fantastical journey with the Nutcracker Prince from the Christmas Eve party to the battle between soldiers and Mouse Queen’s army to the Land of the Snowflakes and the Land of Sweets. Clara Goehring dances the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy, who welcomes the duo.

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This is Prigge’s third Nutcracker with Vail Valley Academy of Dance, and she has wanted to play Clara since she joined the studio.

“Being able to perform and tell a story that the audience will hopefully (love) is special to me,” she said, adding that she has practiced the challenging choreography every night after regular rehearsals since September. “I couldn’t do everything that I can do now, and it’s cool to see how my skill has improved.”

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She has helped teach younger kids at the studio, so most know her, and when the little reindeer see her in her role, they say things like, “Wow, that was amazing, Miss Tatum,” or “I hope to be like you someday.”

“They get excited when they go on stage with me. It makes my heart sing,” she said. “As the kids get older, the talent increases. We work so hard as a company … with (choreography) and advanced pointe work.”

This is Goehring’s sixth Nutcracker; she has worked her way up the ranks and said performing the Sugar Plum Fairy role is a magical feeling. As a senior, this is her last year with Vail Valley Academy of Dance, which she said is bittersweet, but she has loved every minute of it and plans to continue studying dance in college and hopefully join a company. She’s also grateful for the professional-level experience the Vilar has provided.

“It’s a beautiful place to perform. It gives me insight into what it would be like to perform in a professional theater,” she said.

“The technical staff at VPAC are amazing. They treat all the dancers with compassion and kindness,” Calligan said. “(Dancers) learn what it would be like to dance in a professional company atmosphere by having to sign in and out every time they are at the theater, they learn technical theater terms and they are given the same respect that other world-class artists would get.”

Goehring and the other performers love seeing the whole thing come together and adding to the magic of the holidays.

“It’s a feeling of accomplishment. You can see how much time and effort we put into a production like this,” she said, talking about how the dancers have been rehearsing a couple hours a week and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays since September. “There are a lot of talented people who dance in our studio, and we have great teachers and guest choreographers come in.”

Each year, the production differs; Calligan changes choreographer based on who is dancing each role.

“Keeping the choreography different makes it exciting for the dancers so they never get bored, which in turn brings more excitement to the audience,” she said, adding that this year features new choreography for the battle scene, snow scene, Flowers and the Grand Pas. “Since we do change it each year, we get positive feedback from that aspect because you will never see the same show two years in a row. The dancers love it, the parents love it and the audience loves it.

This is more than just local kids on a stage dancing. This is an entire production that has so many working parts. Vail Friends of Dance does an amazing job of making this an interactive family experience from the performance itself, to the bake sale, silent auction, meet-and-greet on Saturday afternoon, to all the volunteers it takes to keep the show moving smoothly. This is a community event in every single aspect.”