NEW YORK — We all know it. The enchanting melody of “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker,” which returns to New York City Ballet on Friday for its annual run through Dec.

Attending a performance of “The Nutcracker” is a holiday highlight for people of all ages around the world, in no small part due to the Sugar Plum Fairy. While she’s only on stage about twenty minutes ...

Weeks ahead of “George Balanchine’s ‘The Nutcracker,’ ” the Sugar Plum Fairy is getting ready to entertain. Her wand at hand, she has magic to command. At her palace in the Land of the Sweets the ...

Listen to how Tchaikovsky uses the celesta in “The Nutcracker,” unleashing the potential of the instrument to signal playfulness and fantasy. By Joshua Barone Photographs and Video by Vincent Tullo ...

In the 1890s, when the Russian composer Tchaikovsky was preparing to write the music for the ballet that would become his holiday classic, “The Nutcracker,” he encountered a brand-new instrument: the ...

Delicate as a music box and bright as a winter star, the bell-like chimes of Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" signal pure Christmas magic, evoking images of graceful, twirling ballerinas ...

Sugar Plum Fairies are pirouetting early this year, as the metro area will have many options for seeing “The Nutcracker” this holiday season ranging from a high-tech spectacle to more modest creations ...

With its sparkling celesta and dreamlike rhythm, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” has become a sonic hallmark of Christmas. But its festive identity is a modern invention. Born in a 19th-century ...

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) — The Sugar Plum Fairy received more than just flowers this year at the Spartanburg Nutcracker Ballet. Miguel Deulofeu, a former dancer at Ballet Spartanburg, ended the ...