New London — When the Eastern Connecticut Ballet production of "The Nutcracker" returns to the stage at the Garde Arts Center next month, after a COVID-19 hiatus last year, the show will be a little different.

With the company's youngest dancers only just becoming eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine in the late stages of rehearsals, the entire first act of the show — the act featuring those youngest dancers — will be presented in video form.

To accomplish this feat, the company has been rotating though the Garde's stage over the course of three days, blocking, rehearsing and performing to an empty house and two high-definition video cameras operated by Scott Dube of Biz Flix video production.

The Garde's Steve Sigel worked with the company to make time for the sessions. "We had to carve it out," ECB Executive Director Lise Reardon said. "Steve (Sigel) worked with us, he was very good. He found three days in his busy schedule and said, 'OK, you can have the theater Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.'"

The show's second act, which features professional guest dancers from the New York City Ballet, will be performed live, with the school's more advanced and fully vaccinated dancers taking the stage.

Reardon explained that the New York City Ballet is not allowing principal dancers to make any guest appearances that require rail or air travel. Reardon says she'll be sending a car to New York to transport guest artists Sara Mearns, who will dance as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Russell Janzen as her Cavalier, and Unity Phelan as the Dew Drop Fairy.

Reardon explained that ballet schools all over the country have been sharing ideas about how to continue to operate through the pandemic and how to present their showcases, including annual performances of the holiday staple, and remain within health guidelines.

Planning for "The Nutcracker" began almost as soon as last year's show didn't happen.

"We've been thinking about it all year long," Reardon said. "We've been thinking about it and paying close attention to the state guidelines, regulations, the mandates, everything. At some point, you just have to make an educated guess."

The idea to use video for the first act of the show came, at least in part, from the New Haven Ballet, which, Reardon explained, presented last year's "Nutcracker" entirely online. This year they are only recording small portions of the show. Reardon and her team decided in September to go forward with the idea to record the opening act.

"Then it was full speed ahead, playing catch-up," she said.

"There were so many things we couldn't start doing in a timely way that we normally do, like fundraising, ticket sales and advertising," Reardon explained. "Because we weren't sure then that we were going to move forward. Then when we came up with this concept, we said, 'OK, we're going to hit the ground running,' and it's been a bit stressful because it's still a risk."

The 63 dancers, ranging in age from 6 to 18, began rehearsals at the end of September. The show's timeline is compressed from previous years, so dancers have been putting in extra time in the studio, adding a Sunday to their weekend rehearsal schedules, to get the work in before the recording sessions, which are nearly a month before the live performance.

"It's definitely more stressful than a normal show," says Olivia Turtoro, 17, dancing in her eighth "Nutcracker." "But it's still really great to get out there and just dance it."

Cameron Brown, 15, who is dancing four different roles in the production, says not having the show last year was a disappointment. "It was really sad, honestly. I always look forward to that time. It gets to be Christmas time, you're like, 'It's the holidays, I'm so excited,' and for dancers that means it's 'Nutcracker' time. And so to not have it, the feeling is weird. You get stressed to be in the theater, but you're also so happy. You finish it and you're so happy. 'I did it! It turned out great.' To not have that sense of accomplishment last year was really sad and hard."

"it's been an experience," Artistic Director Gloria Govrin said. "It's going to be a big accomplishment, when we get it all done."

Vanessa Linden, 14, in only her second appearance and dancing three parts this year, was pleasantly surprised when the word came that there would be a "Nutcracker" this year. "All the talk was it wasn't going to happen," she explained. "When we found out, it was like the best day ever, we were all super excited. We were talking about it, how excited we all were to be back on stage again. It was just amazing."

The Eastern Connecticut Ballet's production of "The Nutcracker" will take the stage on Dec. 11 at 1:30 and 7 p.m., and Dec. 12 at 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. For information on tickets, visit easternctballet.org.

s.elliot@theday.com

Photo gallery

For more photos from the Eastern Connecticut Ballet production of "The Nutcracker," click here.