Watching Applegate dancer Nicole Martin twirl across stage is as much a local holiday tradition as the “The Nutcracker” itself.
That’s because, at just 16, Martin has been in every production of the colorful Christmas classic since the Placer Theatre Ballet started performing 12 years go.
“My weekends have been consumed during Christmastime for the last 12 years,” Martin said. “Yeah, it’s crazy.”
While it’s pretty standard for Placer County preschoolers to don tights and leotards – often, like Martin, after being bewitched by their first viewing of “The Nutcracker” – few dancers continue past elementary school.
And even fewer past age 12, the average age when dancers go en pointe, or begin dancing on their toes.
But tall, lean and graceful, Martin seemed destined for ballet from the beginning, said her mother, Denise Martin.
“Nicole walked early, at 8 months old,” Denise said. “Her ability to walk should not have been consistent with her brain development. (Later on) we’d go hiking and she couldn’t just walk – she’d dance and skip. When a child is born with a gift, you try to foster it.”
Serious ballet requires a mix of athleticism and art, a gift the Colfax High School junior might have inherited. Denise is an artist and softball player and Nicole’s dad, Mike, is a wrestler.
While Nicole was “raised with pencil and paper,” she says she also spends time skiing, camping and rock climbing, activities that help keep her body in tip-top condition.
“Dance is so much about how far you can push your body,” Nicole Martin explained. “When it gets intense, your body breaks down – your feet, your ankles, your knees. That’s why the training has to step up. When you get tired, when your body says ‘no,’ you have to be able to keep going.”
It can become too much to handle. After years of going straight from classroom to dance studio, Martin is ready for a breather.
She’s stepped away from more rigorous en pointe roles to perform as Clara’s mother in this year’s production, scheduled Saturday and Sunday as well as Dec. 5-6 at Placer High School. Afterwards, she plans to take a few months off.
“I needed to concentrate on my studies,” she explained. “Junior year is the hardest. And my body needs a break.”
At one time, Martin dreamed of becoming a professional ballet dancer. Today she’s opening her mind to other possibilities – for instance, majoring in art history or music in college.
But Placer Theatre Ballet’s goal is to give dancers like Martin that choice. With its open auditions and nonprofit status, the company allows young residents from Placer County and beyond to perform alongside professionals in a production that would normally be reserved for career dancers.
It’s a life shaping experience, whether they pursue dance or not, explained Martin’s mother.
“It’s taught her that you don’t start out at the top of your game – you work to get better,” Denise Martin said. “It’s the same with school. You have to keep working at it.”
Martin will never forget her ballet “family,” which includes classmates like 17-year-old Anna Huckins of Auburn, this year’s Sugar Plum Fairy, and Colfax resident Kelcey Quan Joyce, also 16, who is taking her first break from the production this year.
Nor will she forget the thrill of taking on her favorite role, a reed flute, when she was 12 years old.
“It was the first time I got to wear a tutu – it was a big step,” she said.
Just because she won’t make a living with her ballet shoes, doesn’t mean she’s hanging them up.
“When you dance for so many years, you can’t just stop doing it,” she said. “There’s something about being out on stage with everyone watching you – being able to do what you’ve been working so hard for and for so long. It’s really rewarding. I’m dancing for the pure enjoyment of it.”

"The Nutcracker"

Presented by: Placer Theatre Ballet
Where: Placer High School, 275 Orange St. in Auburn
When: Nov. 28-29 at noon and 4 p.m.; Dec. 5 at 2 p.m.; Dec. 6 at noon and 4 p.m.
Tickets: placertheaterballet.org or call (916) 630-7820. Reserved seating ranges from $11 to 18