Washington Ballet

This is the first of an occasional series about people who do the behind-the-scenes work during the holidays. The stage is set, the rehearsals over. Tonight, the world premiere of the Washington Ballet's new Nutcracker will open at the Hippodrome Theatre. Think new American, not old Europe: The Christmas party opens in a Georgetown mansion instead of a German family's parlor. And the Nutcracker looks surprisingly like George Washington. Much of the ballet remains the same: a young girl's Christmas fantasy still comes to life, and there's still the joyful music by Tchaikovsky that makes this one of the best-loved ballets of all time, and a holiday tradition.

Dinah Washington loved being called the "Queen of the Blues" -- just "Queen" to her friends -- and she did not tolerate rivals. When she was in London preparing to perform for the Queen of England, Washington was cautioned to mind her manners and watch her language. Her lusty command of basic Anglo-Saxon was legendary. "So you knew she had to do something," says E. Faye Butler, who is performing as Dinah Washington in "Dinah Was," the play that opened Friday at Center Stage. "She goes on stage, and she sings a couple of songs and she says 'Stop.

Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, with its dancing Sugar Plum Fairy, waltzing flowers and toy soldiers, has long been a beloved holiday tradition. This season, Baltimoreans can see Russian dancers perform the ballet, composed by Tchaikovsky for the Alexandre Dumas adaptation of the E.T.A. Hoffman short story. The Lyric Opera House is offering four performances of The Great Russian Nutcracker by the Moscow Ballet. "It features an all-star Russian cast, including two stars from the Kirov Ballet, the No. 1 ballet company in the world," says Akiva Talmi, the show's producer.

For Columbia's Alex Ketley , the dance road leading to this week's national TV exposure on "So You Think You Can Dance" began under the tutelage of the late Anne Allen as a member of her Columbia Multi-Media Dance Theater Company. That training opened doors for this Wilde Lake High School graduate, and earned him credits with the Washington Ballet. The road led eventually to California as a classical dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, where Ketley performed from 1994 to 1998 in a wide-ranging ballet repertory that included the works of master choreographerGeorge Balanchine.

MEMORIAL DAY weekend will be an extraordinary time for Dennis Kast Jr., 14, and his family. At 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Dennis will become an Eagle Scout. The Court of Honor ceremony will be held in the Big G auditorium at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville. Betty Jean Maus, Springfield's director of volunteer services, was happy to have the event at the center because of work undertaken there by Dennis as part of his Eagle Scout requirements. To demonstrate his leadership ability, Dennis was project manager for the renovation of the nondenominational chapel on the Springfield grounds.

There are scores of travel brochures and Web sites that list things to do in Washington for the holidays. What's striking about most, however, is that they include as many attractions in the suburbs as those within the city limits. That seems a bit odd, considering how long it takes to navigate through gridlock around the nation's capital. Nothing against scenic light displays in Wheaton or a gingerbread house in Arlington, Va., but a holiday in Washington should be just that, even if you're just coming from the Baltimore area.

"Nutcrackers"(Note: Not all shows are full-length productions.) The Moscow Ballet. "Great Russian Nutcracker." 7:30 p.m. today and Dec. 1, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2, 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Dec. 3. Morris A. Mechanic Theatre, 25 Hopkins Plaza. $20-$40. 413-499-1733. Harford Dance Theatre. 7 p.m. today (abbreviated version), 5 p.m. (abbreviated) and 8 p.m. (full-length) Dec. 1, 3 p.m. (abbreviated) and 8 p.m. (full-length) Dec. 2, 3 p.m. Dec. 3 (full-length). Amoss Performance Arts Center, 220 Thomas Run Road, Bel Air. $5-$15.

The Washington Ballet performed at Goucher College yesterday with four works that evidenced the stylistic versatility and strong technical expertise of this attractive company.The highlight of the afternoon was the electric performance of Yan Chen and Kevin McKenzie in the Pas de Deux from "Don Quixote," not the premiere of artistic associate McKenzie's "Lucy and the Count" nor the new ballet "Colorful Fantasies" by Keith Lee.Ms. Chen is a world-class ballerina, and her magical performance with its daring dynamics welded to her acute musicality proves it. Her lines are crystalline, and she appears to float effortlessly above her intricate and precise footwork.

The Washington Ballet packed Goucher College's Kraushaar Auditorium Saturday night with fans hungry for ballet. Artistic director and founder Mary Day satisfied everybody with her company's first-rate , dancing and with a program of three solid works by George Balanchine, Nils Christie and Choo San Goh.Opening the evening was Balanchine's "Serenade" to "Serenade in C major for String Orchestra" by Tchaikovsky. It is the first ballet Balanchine created in the United States, and it remains the epitome of modern classical style.

The end of anything often brings retrospection, a remembering of good times and bad times, expectations and accomplishments, disappointments and successes. As 1992 comes to a close, The Sun's arts and entertainment critics take a moment from watching and listening to concerts and recordings, plays, movies, art exhibits, architectural projects, television shows and dance programs to reflect on the one image or event in their respective fields of criticism that, more than any other, made 1992 memorable.