Middle Georgia Nutcracker celebrates 40 years. See behind the curtain.

If you didn’t know any better, the rhythmic thumping of 15 pairs of pointe-shoe-clad feet against the wood floor inside a Macon dance studio could easily be mistaken for an approaching army.

Violins swell as the dancers swoop together in a graceful pivot, then the music stops. The girls stand on their toes for just a few moments longer until Artistic Director Alice Sheridan permits them to relax. They drop all at once with a sigh.

It was a little over two weeks until opening night for the Nutcracker of Middle Georgia, and there was no time to waste.

“Cross the bottom foot, it’s got to stretch — and remember, your head is going over the shoulder, your chest is up as you move,” Sheridan tells the girls, as she rises from her chair in the corner of the studio and mimics their gestures. “Okay, let’s try that again.”

The dancers realigned themselves along the back wall, Sheridan took her seat, and the music started over.

It’s just a snapshot of the countless hours devoted to the Nutcracker of Middle Georgia, a beloved Christmas tradition in Macon that brings together dance students from across the region in an elaborate production at the historic Piedmont Grand Opera House in downtown Macon.

This year, the Middle Georgia Nutcracker is celebrating its 40th anniversary. It’s held a production every year, save for 2020 when the show was cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the show opened Wednesday and will run through Dec. 14, with tickets available on the Nutcracker of Middle Georgia website.

For dancers and spectators alike, the show feels like stepping into a glittering winter wonderland. Even just watching the dancers rehearse in leotards with Tchaikovsky crackling over a Bluetooth speaker feels like a door to another world.

A special tradition

To hear the board members, families and dancers involved with the Nutcracker of Middle Georgia speak of the production feels like being privy to something sacred.

The ballet follows the story of a young girl, Clara, who receives a nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve. She dreams that the nutcracker comes to life that night, and takes her on a spellbinding journey fighting the Mouse King and traveling to a land of sweets ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Amy Green, a board member with the Nutcracker of Middle Georgia, said many of the dancers who appear in the show have been a part of the production since they were small.

Children can audition as long as they are 8 years old by September, when auditions are held. While many of the more central roles are occupied by teenagers, Green said there are numerous smaller roles — such as toy soldiers, heralds, dragons and jesters — that are often filled by younger cast members.

“It gives all of the children a chance,” Green said.

Many of those young dancers eventually grow into larger roles. Gray Griffin, who plays Clara in this year’s show, has been dancing in the Nutcracker of Middle Georgia for seven years and has been in a slew of roles prior to taking center stage in this year’s production.

Green’s own daughter, Mary Ella Green, danced in the Nutcracker throughout her childhood, and eventually landed the role of Clara in the 2022 production.

The cast goes beyond just children, though. Green said the show also features professional dancers and adults from the community who dance in a variety of roles, including the Snow King and Snow Queen, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the titular Nutcracker.

“It goes all the way up to adults, we have grandparents in it,” Green said.

Even if they aren’t dancing, many parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends of performers assist through fundraising or helping with hair, makeup and costumes.

At the studio off Orange Street the Nutcracker of Middle Georgia owns and calls home, an entire room is devoted to creating and maintaining the countless costumes required for the show.

Glittering, rhinestone-covered headpieces adorn the shelves between racks of dresses made of satin, tulle and chiffon, and bins of lace, buttons, fabric scraps and rickrack are shoved under tables and benches for spur-of-the-moment repairs.

The Nutcracker’s costume mistress, Lauren Parris, alongside a group of costume designers oversee the creation of all the outfits. This year, in honor of the 40th season, they were hard at work crafting new and improved costumes to make this production extra magical.

Humble beginnings to a cornerstone of the community

The first Nutcracker of Middle Georgia started with $10 in a cigar box, Sheridan said.

It was founded in 1985 by Jean Evans Weaver, a local dance instructor who owned Dance Arts Studio in downtown Macon. Inspired by the sumptuous costumes, enormous casts and lighter-than-air dancing of professional productions of the Nutcracker in larger cities, Weaver wanted to bring a similar effort to Macon, but cast students instead of professional dancers.

In her mind, it would be an opportunity to grow young dancers and to bring a unique cultural experience to Middle Georgia. She recruited Jimmie Deloach and Susan Cable — a professional makeup artist and a costume mistress, respectively — and Bobby Berg, a Macon native who was working as a set designer for television productions in New York City.

They started with a mere $10 from their own pockets, but were able to grow their production budget to about $25,000 by December through sponsorships and donations.

“That first production was not nearly as elaborate as it is now,” Sheridan said. “It’s grown over the years.”

The cast was small, and it was held at the Porter Auditorium on Wesleyan’s campus, which the four could book for cheap. Many of the costumes consisted of re-purposed outfits and materials, including a nutcracker head made from an old lampshade.

Over the years, the production grew. Community members and parents donated money and volunteered to help prepare the show, Green and Sheridan said, and dancers from outside of Weaver’s studio auditioned. Soon the Nutcracker booked the Piedmont Grand Opera House — affectionately known around downtown as “The Grand.”

As the production grew it became a staple in the community every holiday season, Green and Sheridan said. The Nutcracker of Middle Georgia started offering more shows, and tickets sold out nearly every year. The organization held performances for local school groups and even began to recruit professional dancers to perform in the show and mentor the cast.

Weaver continued to lead the production until her retirement in 2016, at which point she also sold her downtown dance studio. Despite her departure, she remained an avid supporter of the show she created until her death in November 2022, according to Weaver’s obituary.

Sheridan, a protégé of Weaver’s, took the helm and the Middle Georgia Nutcracker spent about four years bouncing between various buildings and studios around town as it searched for a new home.

Finally, the organization purchased its current building in December 2020. The organization spent the next several months demolishing walls, refurbishing floors and painting to get it ready in time for Christmas, with board members and dancers’ families even picking up and swinging hammers themselves.

Fast forward a few years and the organization has settled into its new home. On rehearsal days — which happen over the course of about nine weeks — the hallways are alive with the sound of children laughing and pointe shoes against wood floors. Dancers gossip and share snacks in dressing rooms in between scenes, and everyone crams into the lobby for meetings ahead of the performance.

Numerous current and former dancers have found lifelong friendships through the show, and come back year after year, Green and Sheridan said.

“(The dancers) really come together,” Sheridan said. “There’s tears at the end, they’re crying. They really love being at the theater, they love performing, and they love being together.”

This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 6:00 AM.