The Eugene, Ore., Ballet Company's version of "Nutcracker," up for six performances in Anchorage starting Friday, has some unexpected twists.

Or "improvements" as ballet company artistic director Toni Pimble prefers to call them.

It's the second time that the Oregon-based Pimble has choreographed a complete "Nutcracker." And, having co-founded the company 30 years ago, she has danced, directed or seen the ballet who knows how many times.

"We tour 'Nutcracker' throughout the Christmas season," she wrote in an e-mail from Kansas, where she's been working with the Kansas City Ballet. "This year we will be performing in 18 different venues in six states in six weeks," including the three-day run in Anchorage.

So she's had plenty of opportunity to consider ways to make Tchaikovsky's 100-year-old classic more enticing to modern audiences.

One of the twists is creating a second story line about teenage love, she said. She's merged the characters of Hans, the nephew of the magical Drosselmeyer, with the Nutcracker Prince. (This double identity is also suggested by E.T.A. Hoffman's original novella, on which the ballet is based.) Hans is typically performed by a boy who follows the magician around as an assistant, then disappears from the rest of the tale. The strenuous part of the Prince is always danced by a mature performer.

Bringing the two roles together adds a romantic connection that spans the beginning and end of the piece, but it's a workout for the dancer, noted Riley Grannon, Eugene Ballet Company's managing director. "He's onstage for almost the whole time," he said.

Pimble draws another connection by having gifts at the opening Christmas party resemble the character dancers from different nations featured in the last section. A hot air balloon used to transport Hans and the story's heroine, Clara, resembles a cake and tree ornament from the party scene.

A particularly complex "improvement" involves the transformation of Clara's living room into the battlefield of the forces of the Mouse King and the Nutcracker Prince. The lead-in has traditionally been signaled by the Christmas tree, which eerily begins to grow before our eyes. It was a stunning effect in the last century, but Pimble said, she wanted to take advantage of "today's high tech theatrical effects" to achieve something "more imaginative."

The result is that the entire room metamorphoses into a mouse-eye's view of the world. Both Grannon and Pimble credited Don Carson, a former Disney artist now living in Oregon, with the fairy-tale's set.

"Carson is a wonderful collaborator whose experience with Disney includes art direction and illustration as well as conceptual ideas," said Pimble.

The production includes a "buccaneer theme" in places, Grannon said. "The Mouse King comes in on a pirate ship; I don't think I'm giving away too much."

Additionally the Dance of the Snowflakes becomes a skater's ballet. "It's a different look to the 'Nutcracker,'" Grannon said. "That's what we were looking for."

As always, young local dancers play a big part, as children at the party, mice, soldiers, angels and so forth. But in this production, some will also get to perform in the Waltz of the Flowers. The glorious near-the-end ensemble piece, a dependable show-stopper, is usually performed by a corps of professionals.

But the ballet company wanted to incorporate the local dancers on "multiple layers," Grannon said. "It's a nice chance, particularly for the older dancers."

Pimble and ballet company dancers have previously performed in Anchorage as guests of Alaska Dance Theatre, which is supplying dancers for this performance. Pimble called the 2007 collaboration "a very positive experience. When the Anchorage Concert Association invited us to bring our 'Nutcracker' to Anchorage, I was delighted to work with ADT again."

There's another connection. Gerald McDonald, the original Eugene Ballet Company president of the board was also the project manager for the architecture firm that designed Eugene's Hult Center for the Performing Arts, the same firm that designed the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. Pimble's husband, Paul Dustrud, was the operations director for the Eugene facility.

The two buildings share many similarities and are regularly compared with one another. In fact Dustrud recently led a group of architects from Eugene through the Anchorage center where they eagerly took note of the similarities.

"For the ballet company having a theater whose stage house dimensions are similar to our home theater allows (Eugene Ballet Company's) 'Nutcracker' production elements to fit well on stage," Pimble said. "We will feel right at home at our sister theater."

The major role of Clara, sometimes handed to a local performer, will be danced by one of ballet company's veterans. "She isn't our tallest dancer," Grannon joked. But her part in the production is more demanding than it can be when a teenager has the role. Her mischievous brother, Fritz, will be danced by Alaska Dance Theatre student Flory Boots.

In all the other cities on this year's "Nutcracker" tour, which stretches from California to Idaho, a student from Eugene will be brought in for Fritz, Pimble said. Anchorage is the only place where a local performer will have the role.

Pimble's version doesn't dramatically alter the sequence of the music, Grannon said. "It runs two hours, with intermission and the second act closes briskly. We're not looking for deep psychoanalytical drama, but it's not run-of-the-mill either. It's quite theatrical with fog and pyrotechnics.

"I guarantee you, no one is going to sleep through this."

Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.

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