VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUMS : Eight principal dancers present their takes on the famous fairy

When the curtain rises on Act II of the San Francisco Ballet’s version of “The Nutcracker”--coming to the Performing Arts Center on Friday for 12 performances--the stage will have been transformed into the spun-sugar Kingdom of Sweets, a dreamlike world ruled by a kind and beautiful creature, the Sugar Plum Fairy.

To be sure, the Sugar Plum Fairy lacks the technical and psychological complexity of such landmark classical roles as Giselle, Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake,” and Aurora in “The Sleeping Beauty.” But generations of little girls have been enthralled by the Sugar Plum Fairy’s delicate variation (solo) to Tchaikovsky’s gossamer celesta music, and by the romantic pas de deux she dances with her Cavalier at the end of the ballet.

In Orange County, eight principals from San Francisco will, at different performances, dance this famous role as choreographed in 1986 by company artistic director Helgi Tomasson (based on the 1967 production by Lew Christensen, and the 99-year-old Russian original by Petipa and Ivanov).

We asked each of these Sugar Plum Fairies whether she remembers seeing the ballet as a child, how she envisions the role today--and whether she ever gets tired of the familiar music that blares from every shopping mall during the Christmas season.

Shannon Lilly: “At Christmastime (when I was a child), we’d see the Oakland Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker.’ I was completely dazzled by it. It wasn’t necessarily the Sugar Plum Fairy that intrigued me but the overall picture of dance: the pointe work, the girls’ costumes and tutus, all of that little-girl stuff. That’s what made me decide when I was about 8 that I wanted to be a ballerina--a mixture of that and seeing (the film) ‘The Turning Point.’ I’d already been dancing for four years. . . .

“I usually do the kind of roles that are more upbeat and spunky. When I do the Sugar Plum, it’s on a grander scale. I feel more like a ballerina. It’s a glamorous role. You feel beautiful when you’re out there.

“I always go and practice (on stage) about 10 minutes before I start. The kids are so great. They’ll all run around you--they look up to you so much. They ask you questions and ask for (castoff) pointe shoes. . . . (When you’re dancing) you look at their eyes and they’re so attentive, watching you.

“I think it’s the most incredible music. It puts me in the Christmas spirit. It always makes me feel good inside. I don’t see how anyone can get tired of the music. It’s your friend, music. It helps you to dance.

“The pas de deux starts out just sort of slow and then the music gets really big and makes me feel like I’m growing. The solo is very delicate--you have little bells. And then in the coda after the grand pas de deux, the music gets real fast and you’re turning a lot. It’s sort of like a whirlwind. You get lost in it.”

Joanna Berman: “My very first ballet teacher took me to see the San Francisco Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker.’ I must have been close to 5. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I wanted to be a ballet dancer (after that), but it’s a vivid memory. You know, what I remember most was the opera house and sitting there and watching. . . . I picture the opera house and the dancing, not so much the scenery. The music? Frankly, that’s not part of the memory.

“By the end of the season, you get sick of the overture: ‘Na na na naa na na.’ Oh, God. But the Sugar Plum pas de deux music I never get sick of. It’s so beautiful. One of the jokes in the company is that the end of the ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ makes everyone sick to their stomachs because that’s the music you hear just before you go on.

“(The Sugar Plum Fairy) is queenlike but very warm and gracious. She sort of presides over this magical kingdom. She’s not presiding over England, you know. She’s regal and kind. I don’t think she’s too complex.

“It’s very demanding, this choreography in particular. . . . But the character is very pleasant. Just the fact that you can rise above what you’re having to do technically by projecting this warmth can help you. You can bring something else to it besides perfect technique.”

Elizabeth Loscavio: “(As a child) I really thought the Sugar Plum Fairy to be a magical princess. It is every young girl’s dream. . . . You feel like a ballerina when you do it. The music is so happy for the variation, and very romantic and ‘big’ for the pas de deux. A lot of the feeling is in the music and in the whole ensemble of the ballet. You don’t usually see the Sugar Plum Fairy by herself except in her variation.

“(The role) is very simple. You have a kind of grandeur about you, but there’s also a very humble side. . . . You don’t have to go out and act . You enjoy it. It’s pleasant music--you kind of hum it leaving the studio. Doing Princess Aurora (in ‘The Sleeping Beauty’) is a lot harder technically and psychologically. (The Sugar Plum Fairy) doesn’t take as much concentration. Even on a bad day . . . it picks you up.”

Muriel Maffre: “In France (where Maffre studied at the Paris Opera School of Dance and the Paris National Conservatory), it’s not so popular to dance ‘The Nutcracker’ at Christmas. Here, it still has magic.

“I think the fairy is almost at the same level as Santa Claus. She’s like the godmother, (a figure of) serenity and kindness. It’s beautiful to dance. What is difficult is the musicality. Sometimes the simplest steps can be difficult to achieve if you really want to do them perfectly.

“I have danced the Lilac Fairy in ‘The Sleeping Beauty.’ She is more mysterious in her character. I do not find this mystery in the Sugar Plum. She is just very quiet and very open, ready to give.”

Sabina Allemann: “When I was a kid (attending the National Ballet of Canada School in Toronto), if I wasn’t involved in ‘The Nutcracker,’ I would go home to Vancouver (for the holidays), so I never saw a performance unless I was actually in it.

“I remember being 11 years old and watching (National Ballet principal dancer) Karen Kain and thinking, ‘Gosh, she’s just amazing. Maybe one day I’ll be able to do that.’ I remember, too, being on stage and if the Sugar Plum Fairy happened to look at any one of us, we’d make a big deal of it: ‘Oh! She looked at me!’

“I only get sick of the music if I hear it in the summer. You hear it and you think, ‘Oh, my God, not again!’ But at the holidays it kind of gets you in the spirit of things.

“At the beginning of the act, you have a solo. It’s not the usual thing (in classical works) where you do a pas de deux, variation and coda. (Usually, by the time you have a solo) you’ve already done the pas de deux, and you’re sort of into it. So (this solo) is a little tougher as far as nerves go and not having been on stage yet. The choreography (is challenging), too. The solo is sort of piquant and sharp and exacting, and the pas de deux is more lyrical.”

Wendy Van Dyck: “I was raised in Montana, which has no ballet company, and didn’t come to San Francisco until I was 16. So as a child, I never saw ‘The Nutcracker.’ My first (dancing) experiences were really the Snowflakes and the Flowers. I never got to do the little kids or the scene with the mice and soldiers. I think it would have been a blast.

“(The Sugar Plum Fairy role) certainly gets easier each year you do it. The movements get into your muscles. They become more natural. I’ve grown artistically as a dancer and become more confident and developed more of a sense of the ‘regalness’ that comes with the role. It takes experience and maturity. You really have to exude warmth and, at the same time, be very secure and commanding.

“The Sugar Plum Fairy has to be quite delicate and soft, but at the same time she has to dominate her entire kingdom and be warm and welcoming to the children. For me, the sweetness and delicacy comes very easily, but the commanding (attitude) is something I have to work on.

“You know, I never get tired of the pas de deux music, though I do get tired of hearing other bits of it. And while I’m dancing, (the score seems) one of the most gorgeous pieces of music I’ve ever heard. It’s always different hearing it with a live orchestra . . . so overwhelming to be so close to the live music.

“The music for the variation is very delicate and crisp and kind of staccato. That’s a very different quality of dancing than the pas de deux, which is more lyrical, with beautiful harp cadenzas. It’s the quality of the music that changes your approach to the dancing.”

Ludmila Lopukhova: “In Russia, I danced ‘The Nutcracker’ in the (Kirov Ballet) school every year. There is a school performance for New Year’s Eve. But in Russia, it is a different story: You play Princess, not ‘Sugar Plum.’ It’s a dream about when (Masha, the little girl in the Kirov version) grows up and Prince Charming comes to her.

“We have such a beautiful production in the Kirov. It’s very royal. (The story) really is a very complicated German fairy tale . . . (about) a little girl’s fantasies. Here (in the United States) it’s just entertainment for children.

“It’s a little bit ordinary for me here (in the San Francisco Ballet version). By my nature, I’m not very sweet, so it’s difficult to be sweet. I have a more classical, colder style. I’m doing it a bit different, more royal, not as a ‘sweetie.’ Plus, I’m much older (than the other dancers cast in the role). I’m different from everyone else.

“It’s not the biggest role in the world, you know, not very special. . . . But you have no choice. You’re paid money, you do it.

“This will be my first performance in two years. I injured my back. I had sciatica (a painful nerve condition of the hip and thighs) and I couldn’t stand at all. This (Dec. 4 performance) is my ‘trying’ time.

Evelyn Cisneros: “I grew up in Huntington Beach. I never really saw live performances of ‘The Nutcracker’ until I started dancing in it (as a student at the San Francisco Ballet School), when I was 12 or 13. I never performed the children’s roles because I grew to my full height when I was 12. But I did basically all the other corps of ballets roles. . . .

“I think, ideally, the Sugar Plum Fairy should be every little girl’s fantasy of a ballerina: beautiful, charming, elegant, lovely, generous and full of love. . . . We as artists never really know who we might reach out and touch in the part. All of us had our initial dream lit by an artist on stage. Children see a performance, and it opens their eyes to the field of ballet. We owe it to the children because that’s where the future of art lies.

“I like to talk to the little angels (the children who dance) before we begin (a performance). You pick up on their enthusiasm for the ballet and their awe. It always lifts me and puts me in the right frame of mind.

“I think the variation is more an intimate conversation the Sugar Plum Fairy is having with the children. In our version, we do the variation before Clara and Fritz arrive in the Kingdom of the Sweets. So I feel it’s a conversation between my angels and me, the queen fairy of my kingdom.

“Whereas when you do the pas de deux, you have your Cavalier and he’s escorting you. It’s almost the difference between going to a birthday party versus going to a formal black-tie dinner. It’s the same character, but with a great deal more formality and sophistication. But I feel it’s very important to have the warmth come into play so it doesn’t become sterile.

“I still have a lot of family (in Southern California): my brother, parents, grandmother, aunts. My first performance opening night is my brother’s birthday; he and his new wife are coming. It’s always special when you can dance for those you really love.”

What: “The Nutcracker,” danced by the San Francisco Ballet, accompanied by the Pacific Symphony.

When: Nov. 29 through Dec. 1, Dec. 3 through 8. Performances are at 8 p.m. Nov. 29 and 30 and Dec. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7; at 2 p.m. Nov. 30, Dec. 1, 7 and 8; and at 7 p.m. Dec. 1.

Where: The Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

Whereabouts: The Arts Center is one block east of the South Coast Plaza mall.

Wherewithal: $14 to $50.

Where to call: (714) 556-ARTS for information; (714) 740-2000 to order tickets.

Other (Less Expensive) ‘Nutcrackers’

A chronological listing

* The Coast Ballet Theater, Nov. 29 and 30 at Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa, and Dec. 5-8 at Saddleback College, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. Tickets: $4.50 to $9 at OCC ((714) 432-5880); $9 to $11 at Saddleback ((714) 582-4656).

* Ballet Repertory Theater, Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at Golden West College, 15744 Golden West St., Huntington Beach. Tickets: $5 to $8. (714) 432-5880.

* Dance Repertory Theatre, Nov. 30, Dec. 1 and 8 at the Sisters of St. Joseph Auditorium, 480 S. Batavia St., Orange; Dec. 15 at the Phoenix Club, 1566 S. Douglass Road, Anaheim. Tickets: $6 to $8. (714) 974-5528.

* The Villa Park Ballet, Dec. 6-8 at the Forum Theatre, 4175 Fairmont Blvd., Yorba Linda. Tickets: $10. (714) 779-8591.

* The Festival Ballet Theatre and the children of the Southland Ballet Academy, Dec. 6-8 at the Huntington Beach High School auditorium, 1905 Main St., Huntington Beach. Tickets: $7 to $9. (714) 962-5440.

* The Nouveau Chamber Ballet, Dec. 13 and 14 at Fullerton College, 321 E. Chapman Ave. Tickets: $6 and $8. (714) 526-3862.

* Ballet Pacifica’s 25th annual production, Dec. 17-23 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Tickets: $12 to $15. (714) 642-9275).