Raised in the classics

The longest-running “Nutcracker” in Orange County is based right here in Huntington Beach.

Composed of hundreds of students of the Orange County Dance Center — as well as dozens from the center’s resident troupe — the “Nutcracker” opens Saturday at Golden West College for 12 performances.

Nearly 300 dancers will perform in this year’s production — an increase of nearly 50 people from past years. They range from the tiniest, newest students to grown adults who come back to perform the most demanding roles each year.

The show is performed in its original, full-length version, with music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreography by Anthony Sellars, the artistic director of the center’s resident youth company, Ballet Repertory Theatre.

With 49 members — 45 female and four male dancers — the nonprofit repertory group, now in its 32nd season, is about 10 to 15 dancers above average enrollment.

Helmed by the team of Sellars and his wife, Ballet Mistress Terri Sellars, the troupe offers teens who are serious about ballet the opportunity to take intensive classes that may lead to a professional career.

Some repertory students, like Taryn Nowels and Megan Steinkirchner, have performed in many summer ballet intensives and attended prestigious schools of dance.

In some cases, entire families get involved in the production; one family’s many siblings all perform in the production, and their mother is a seamstress for the company.

The angel ballet, which begins Act II, is usually the place where the youngest performers get to shine.

“I based the choreography on the Rockettes,” Anthony Sellars said at Saturday’s dress rehearsal.

Some of the tiny angels’ mothers cried along the sides of the studio as their little ones rehearsed their steps.

But the ballet’s oldest performers are not members of the repertory group; Randi Galbraith, a first-grade teacher at a Los Alamitos school, has played the Sugar Plum Fairy for seven years.

“I’ve been doing the ‘Nutcracker’ my whole life,” she said. “I started out as an angel. When I’m dancing, it’s kind of like an escape from the busyness of the world. Every year, I leave the last show crying.”

Galbraith said she tries to add a little something extra to her role every year.

“I think about it all the time,” she said. “The steps are always in my head. I think I’ll never forget them, ever.”

Among Galbraith’s biggest fans are her students, who come each year to the production.

“They’re so excited,” she said. “They think their teacher lives at school. The other teachers want to see it this year, too.”

Her Sugar Plum Cavalier is Sate Falley, who works in the banking industry during the day and has handed out hundreds of fliers for the show at work.

Falley, who has been involved with the school for 15 years, said he comes back year after year because there often aren’t enough male dancers to take on the necessary parts.

He also performs Dr. Drosselmeyer in all 12 shows, and appears as the Snow King.

“I started dancing because my sisters danced,” Falley said.

“First they asked if I wanted to stand onstage. Then they asked me to do a dance with one of the girls. Now my sisters don’t dance anymore, but I still do.”

Falley has seen students grow up and transition from angels to soloists.

“These girls have been wanting to do the big-girl parts since they were 5 or 6,” he said.

“Now that they’re 15 or 16, there are still not enough boys to dance with them. So I come back.”

Falley said he’s had some difficulty dovetailing his dancing with his “other life,” but describes dancing as an addiction.

“When I have kids one day, I tell them I didn’t do this,” he said, laughing.

“During rehearsals, I’m still listening to the football game in my ear,” he said, using a radio earpiece.

“I play golf with the dads, or poker, or see bands with them.”

Falley said he’s asked each year by the ballerinas’ mothers if he will return to dance with his daughters.

“I grew up with [Anthony and Terri] Sellars,” he said. “This is a safe environment to grow up in.”

For more information on the dance programs, call (714) 846-0215 or e-mail Sylvie Nguyen at brtpublicity@gmail.com.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “The Nutcracker”

WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday and Dec. 19, 20 and 23; 5 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 21; 2 p.m. Saturday and Dec. 20 and 23; and 1 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 21 and 24

WHERE: Golden West College Theatre

COST: $15 for the general public, $14 for students, groups, and seniors, and $13 for children younger than 12.

INFO: (714) 895-8150 or gwctheater.com.

CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at candice.baker@latimes.com.