CURTAIN RISING ON “THE NUTCRACKER” - Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Queen & Local Kids at Orpheum Theater

Victoria Rinaldi, former Metropolitan Opera ballerina and current Orpheum Dance Program director (right, blue gown) applies finishing artistic touches to young performers in anticipation of the curtain rising for the 10th season of “The Nutcracker,” sponsored by the Catskill Mountain Foundation. The beloved, Christmas-dream ballet was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky.

“The Nutcracker” returns to the mountains for a 10th season, charmingly bringing together the theatrical innocence of local youths and professional performers from Joffrey Ballet School New York and Ballet Hispánico who will provide both corps de ballet and featured dancers for the star roles. Six shows are scheduled at the Orpheum Theater in the village of Tannersville: Saturday, December 6 (2 p.m. matinee and 7 p.m.), Sunday, December 7 (2 p.m. matinee), Saturday, December 13 (2 p.m. matinee and 7 p.m.) and Sunday, December 14 (2 p.m. matinee).

Sydney Henson was born and raised in Saugerties where at age 11, she crossed baths and started her ballet training with onetime Metropolitan Opera ballerina Victoria Rinaldi. Sydney was the original “Clara” in the first Orpheum Theater staging of “The Nutcracker,” a decade ago, and is now with the Cleveland Ballet.

Eloquently mercurial Justin Valentine, from the little, remote mountaintop town of Lexington, was Orpheum Dance Program director Victoria Rinaldi’s first student, portraying “Cavalier” in the original staging of “The Nutcracker” in December, 2015. Justin now studies with Martha Graham 2, possessing “a passion for dance and the dedication to fulfill his dream,” Rinaldi says.