Every Christmas season, the Nutcracker Ballet is performed by over 700 companies around the world. 600 of them are in the United States. This is a behind the scenes look at one.

Getting To The Nutcracker takes you inside the Herculean effort involved in gathering the resources, assembling the volunteers, casting the dancers, rehearsing and staging the performances of this classic ballet.

Director, Serene Meshel - Dillman, a former dancer at the School of American Ballet shows you an intimate, behind the curtain view of the dancers, their teachers and families.

Los Angeles based Marat Daukayev Ballet Theatre, led by the former Kirov star, allowed us to record everything; the auditions, the rigorous hours of training and rehearsals, the joy of landing a principal role and the pain of losing one. The ballet dancers (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.

Best of all, you get to know these dancers. You hear about their dreams and share their triumphs and countless unexpected turns. You see it all, from talented teen artists with a future in dance to the younger, sweet children excitedly taking their turns on stage.