"Getting to the Nutcracker" is a behind the scenes look at what it takes each year to produce the Nutcracker Ballet from auditions to final performance, following the Los Angeles based, Marat Daukayev Ballet Theatre, led by the former Kirov star. Boys and girls, ages 3-18 are profiled; passionate people who, with their families, make incredible sacrifices of time and money, just so that they may dance. The young featured dancers have diverse backgrounds and very different life goals, which may or may not include dance. Executive Producer/Director Serene Meshel-Dillman, a former dancer at the School of American Ballet and commercial television producer, allows the viewer an intimate, behind-the-curtain view of the dancers, their teachers and families. The audience follows the dancers through the auditions, the rigorous hours of training and rehearsals, and shares the joy of landing a principal role and the pain of losing one.
