San Jose is lucky. During the holidays every year, two ballet companies delight audiences, young and old with distinctive versions of the ballet favorite The Nutcracker.

San Jose Dance Theatre takes to the CPA stage first, offering four performances from Dec. 6 to Dec. 8. of its 37th annual production. Open auditions attract dancers from more than 20 dance schools to perform selected parts, with professional dancers filling only the most technical roles. Students from its own academy also are recruited and often paired with professional dancers from around the nation. San Jose Dance Theatre trains beginning through advanced dancers in classical ballet.

The cast of 100 includes a significant number of children who fill roles that include gingerbread cookies, marshmallow lambs and even the Snow Fairy. The role of Clara is double cast, giving young performers Jennifer Gram and Carina Brown an opportunity to play the lead. Eleven-year-old Derek Pincus will dance the part of the Nutcracker Prince. A veteran to the show, having danced in The Nutcracker for nine years, 17-year-old Jennifer Roit will dance as the Snow Fairy. Tumbling also has been choreographed into the production so as to include previous students who have gone on to add gymnastics to their repertoire.

San Jose Dance Theatre sticks to the story line most audiences are familiar with, following Clara and her prince through the Land of Sweets, complete with a visit from the Sugar Plum Fairy. The cast will dance to a prerecorded soundtrack of Tchaikovsky's classic.

The company boasts the second longest running Bay Area production of The Nutcracker, with San Francisco Ballet's being the longest.

For ticket information, call 408.286.9905 or visit www.sjdt.org. Ticket prices are $14­$40. Backstage tours can be purchased for an additional $5.

Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley will move in on Dec. 11 with Artistic Director Dennis Nahat's take on The Nutcracker. Offering 10 performances through Dec. 23, Nahat's company of professional dancers will share the stage with a gang of mice—Bay Area children—who happen to be advanced-level students with the company's school. Students ages 8 to 17 also play carolers, puppeteers, kings and queens, guards, pages and snowflakes.

Nahat's version includes a much-expanded role for Maria, known as Clara in many traditional productions. The character was named Maria in E.T.A. Hoffman's book The Nutcracker and The Mouse King, and it is unclear how or why the name was ever changed. The name may be one of the only pieces that Nahat has kept from the original story.

In his version, Maria and the Nutcracker Prince dance in almost every scene, which requires seven couples to learn the roles. It's simply too athletic for one dancer to perform two consecutive shows. Rather than sitting and watching the performances during the visit to the Land of Sweets, Maria and the prince travel to several countries, interacting and dancing throughout the show.

The following dancers will alternate the roles of Maria and the Nutcracker Prince: Karen Gabay and Stephane Dalle, Dalia Rawson and Michael Doerner, Rika Onizuka and Le Mai Lihn, Maria Jacobs and Shingo Yoshimoto, Patricia Perez and Ramon Moreno, Catharine Grow and Ivan Bielik, and Alexsandra Meijer and Peter Hershey.

This version features an expanded score played by Symphony San Jose Silicon Valley, as well as a dramatic snowstorm that concludes Act 1. Fog and 400 pounds of dry ice fill the stage and soften the quiet fall of 60 pounds of white confetti.

Even the grumpiest scrooge is sure to find delight in San Jose's offerings of traditional holiday ballet.

For ticket information, call the box office at 408.288.2800 or visit www.balletsanjose.org. Ticket prices are $22­$65.