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Ballerinas lace up their pointe shoes before a dress rehearsal for the Maine State Ballet’s Nutcracker at Merrill Auditorium on November 26.
Hanna Miele puts on eyelashes in the dressing room before a dress rehearsal for the Maine State Ballet’s “The Nutcracker”.
Choir members stretch while warming up before a dress rehearsal. It’s the 48th annual production of the ballet by the Maine State Ballet.
Ballerinas get ready before a dress rehearsal of “The Nutcracker”. Thirty professionals company members with over 300 additional dancers make up the cast.
Marin Miele tapes up her toes before dancing. She is one of the party children in “The Nutcracker”.
Josie Skvorak, playing the Pierrot doll, leaves for the stage.
A stage crew member helps Janet Davis, who plays Frau Stahlbalm, mother of Fritz and Clara, with her dress backstage. Skvorak is also the assistant artistic director.
Vera Hendrix rehearses her solo dance as the porcelain doll.
Agnes Norman, a principal dancer for Maine State Ballet, waits for her cue to go on stage. Norman is playing the role of Clara in the production.
Dancers dressed as toy soldiers head off of the stage at a dress rehearsal.
During the second act of the rehearsal, the Marzipan Shepherdesses dance in the Land of the Sweets.
Two dancers grab their props backstage.
Alexandra Schulz, 8, right, helps her friend Holly Miele, 8, practice. The two girls are playing cherubs. Miele’s two older sisters are also ballet dancers in the production.
Dancers who are performing in the “Waltz of the Snowflakes” prepare to go on stage.
A young cherub waves hello at one of the older ballerinas backstage. The cherubs welcome Clara and the Nutcracker Prince to the Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Dancers perform the “Waltz of the Snowflakes”.
Finnly Huette, 8, watches the dancers rehearse for the Maine State Ballet’s Nutcracker from her spot backstage. Huette said she has been watching the ballet from backstage since she was two years old because a close family friend works with the stage crew.
A fellow dancer helps Daisy Delano, who plays a Russian Trepak dancer, get into her costume at a dress rehearsal.
A volunteer takes a photo of the dancers playing the angels.
Anna Cook, center, rehearses her dance for the role of “Dewdrop”.
Glenn Davis, the managing director at Maine State Ballet, stretches backstage before going on to dance during a dress rehearsal. Davis has been dancing for years in the production.
Josie Skvorak, a flower in the Waltz of the Flowers dance and Grace Buckspan, as a coffee from Arabia dancer, hug in the dressing room.
Cherubs wait backstage for their cue to go onstage for their first dress rehearsal. The cherubs welcome Claraand the Nutcracker Prince by strumming little harps during the opening of Act II.
Emma Davis, a principal dancer at Maine State Ballet, waits for her cue to perform the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy in the dress rehearsal for the Nutcracker on November 26.
Anna Cook, center, rehearses her dance for the role of “Dewdrop”. Dewdrop is the leader of the Flowers.
Emma Davis, a principal dancer, hugs a fellow dancer after the conclusion of their first of two big dress rehearsals before the opening night at Merrill Auditorium.

Brianna was born and raised in Nebraska and became interested in photography in elementary school when her art teacher gave her a camera to document their fifth grade class. After college she interned...

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