Cover Photo: A photograph of.a ballerina performing in The Nutcracker
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® | Photograph by Erin Baiano, via New York City Ballet

Unraveling the Perfectionism of Christmas, Ballet, and ‘The Nutcracker’

I aged out of leotards and ballet—not perfectionism. But tight buns suck. And so do tightly scripted holidays.

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker

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The North American Review

The Nutcracker

The Nutcrackerneeds

Christmas

Swan Lakeba da da daa, da duum

Center StageBlack Swan

The Nutcracker

Elizabeth Welch is an interdisciplinary scholar of American visual art, dance, and their intertwined institutions. She teaches art history at Providence College. Her current book project examines the magazine Dance Index (1942-1949) and the artist-balletomanes who helped advance ballet to elite status in the United States. She earned a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin and BA from Rhodes College.