The Nutcracker is back in NYC for 2021 and here's where to see it

This magical 1954 production, set to Tchaikovsky's incredible score, includes the full New York City Ballet company and two casts of School of American Ballet students, as well as an onstage blizzard and a Christmas tree that grows from 12 to 40 feet. In the end, however, Balanchine's choreography is what holds it all together. It's enchanting.

You’ll get a kick out of this holiday stalwart, which still features Santa, wooden soldiers and the dazzling Rockettes. In recent years, new music, more eye-catching costumes and advanced technology have been introduced to bring audience members closer to the performance. Whatever faults one may find with this awesomely lavish annual pageant (it's basically a celebration of the virtues of shopping), this show has legs. And what legs! In the signature kick line that finds its way into most of the big dance numbers, the Rockettes’ 36 flawless pairs of gams rise and fall like the batting of an eyelash, their perfect unison a testament to the disciplined human form. This is precision dancing on a massive scale—a Busby Berkeley number come to glorious life—and it takes your breath away.

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As part of its Once Upon a Ballet series, which is aimed at young children, NYTB presents an hour-long Art Nouveau version of the holiday ballet, complete with clockwork elves and an owl that flies over the audience. The set design is by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith and the costumes by Sylvia Taalsohn Nolan.

Brooklyn Ballet's take on The Nutcracker, choreographed by artistic director Lynn Parkerson, emphasizes cultural and artistic diversity. Alongside sequences that hew to the classic 19th-century tradition are interludes featuring street dance, flamenco, belly dancing, Chinese dance, hoop dance and hip-hop. The cast of this year's edition includes Aliesha Bryan, the Red Dance Studio Chinese Dancers, Sira Melikian, ShanDien LaRance and Michael “Big Mike” Fields.

Dances Patrelle offers its annual performance of The Yorkville Nutcracker, set in 1895 New York and featuring adorable child dancers alongside the professionals. This year's 25th annual edition once again features Abi Stafford—a longtime New York City Ballet star who left the company in September—as the Sugar Plum Fairy, joined this time by current NYCB principal Jared Angle as her Cavalier.

The State Ballet Theater of Ukraine visits New Jersey with its 55-performer version of the beloved Tchaikovsky holiday classic for a single performance at NJPAC. The production, revised last year, features staging and choreography​ by Andrey Litvinov.       

Choreographer David Parker and his Bang Group reprise their neovaudevillian version of The Nutcracker, a comedic deconstruction of the holiday classic that mixes tap, ballet, contemporary dance and disco. The cast for this 19th annual production includes students from Steffi Nossen School of Dance and e.g. dance.

This production interprets the classic with hip-hop choreography and an updated version of the holiday story; directed and choreographed by Jennifer Weber and adapted by Mike Fitelson, the production features onstage DJs, an amped-up version of the Tchaikovsky score and a short opening act by rap pioneer Kurtis Blow. (The show plays at NJPAC on December 18 and then at Brooklyn's Kings Theater on December 19.)

The pre-professional dancers of the Kozlova's school offer their annual one-hour performances of Tchaikovsky's holiday plum, which the former Bolshoi Ballet and New York City Ballet étoile has staged after Marius Petipa and Valery Vainonen's original. This year's cast is led by Katherine St. Jean and Mary Eisener.