For 16-year-old Alexandra Madera, the holiday season isn't complete without attending a performance of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.

"There hasn't really been one Christmas when I haven't gone to see it," she said. "It's a part of Christmas, and it doesn't feel like the holidays without it."

But for the past two years, Alexandra has done more than just observe the show. Last year she played a flower and a snowflake, and this year the dancer is ready for her role as a merliton, or a flautist who presents Clara with a flute.

"It's one of the most playful dances," Alexandra said.

Although Alexandra enjoys the lightheartedness of her part, the high school student takes her dancing seriously. She has been practicing ballet since the age of three, when her mother put her in a "kiddy combo class," a mixture of tap and ballet dancing. At age 10, she began to focus exclusively on ballet, and ever since then dancing has been more of a passion than a hobby.

"My teachers have been like mentors to me," Alexandra said. "And you don't just learn how to dance—you learn other things as well, like how to express yourself and how to be disciplined."

The ballet student said the self-control she has developed through ballet trickles into her academic life, as well.

Alexandra may take dancing as seriously as a baseball player takes a ball game, but she points out a key difference between baseball and ballet.

"I wasn't ever athletic," she said. "I don't do well with objects flying at me."

She might not consider herself athletic, but Alexandra is no slouch in the physical fitness department. She participates in five ballet classes a week, and assists in teaching younger dancers on Saturdays.

"It's fun," she said. "The kids are really cute. They get so excited, and they remind me of how I was when I was little. Younger kids try really hard, and put a lot of effort into it."

Two of those children are Willow Glen residents Nicole and Victoria Capobianco, ages nine and seven.

"[As cherubs}, we wear white costumes with gold string," Victoria said. "But we haven't seen the halos or wings yet."

"It's really fun," Nicole adds. "We get to be characters."

The girls' mother, Jeanine, appreciates the professional quality of the production

"The only other way to dance in something like this is if you are part of a company," Jeanine said. "The production is really beautiful, and the doors are open for anyone in San Jose to audition."

Nicole and Victoria insist they aren't afflicted with stage fright, and their background in dancing might be the reason. Although the Capobianco sisters have yet to make it to the double digits, they have been dancing for more than 10 years between them. Both inherited a love of the dance from their mother, who is a classically trained ballet dancer and former instructor.

But according to Alexandra, dancers and viewers alike enjoy the Nutcracker.

"The Nutcracker is good to take anyone to go see," she said. "It's not boring, like some other ballets can be. It has a good story, and it's for the whole family."

Performances of the San Jose Dance Theatre's production of the Nutcracker will be on Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 11 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Dec. 12 at 1:00 p.m. at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd. Tickets are priced between $22 to $42, and can be purchased at www.ticketguys.com or by calling 408.286.9905.