The Champaign Urbana Ballet’s magical seasonal production of “The Nutcracker” opens tonight at 7:30 in the Tyron Festival Theatre at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

Other performances will be held 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8. Tchaikovsky's music will be performed by Sinfonia da Camera. This is the fourth year that the CU Ballet, Sinfonia, and Krannert have teamed up to present the musical version of E.T.A. Hoffman's famed story, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King."

Over the past several years, many Uni students have been involved in this production. This year is no exception.

Junior Karolina Kalbarczyk, sophomore Sophie Shenk, and freshmen Simone Ballard and Claire Liu have been hard at work rehearsing for “The Nutcracker” since September and tonight will see the fruition of their hard work and dedication.

The four Uni ballerinas were at rehearsal last Sunday at the Champaign Ballet Academy for a run-through of the performance. The ballet academy was packed with eager parents and ballet students, peering through a large observation window into one of the studios in which The Party Scene from Act I was being rehearsed.

Half-costumed dancers ran through Act I seamlessly with a pause for corrections by artistic director Deanna Doty and a quick costume change from flowing dresses to ice-blue tutus.

In hurried intervals between dances, Ballard, Kalbarczyk, and Liu took a break from their busy rehearsal to talk about the upcoming performances.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the CU Ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker,” and in honor of a decade of excellence the ballet company is making a few enhancements.

“We’re going to have new sets, new costumes, new lights, new everything,” said Kalbarczyk.

“Ribbon Candy costumes are new because the old ones were falling apart, but the new ones are really pretty and the Ice Fairy costumes are pretty new — they’re from last year,” said Liu.

The Polichinelles also have completely new costumes. To match the excitement of new costumes and set is a huge local cast: "[It] just keeps on getting bigger and bigger," Liu said. "I think it’s close to 100 this year.”

“We have such an influx of cute little boys for the party scene,” added Kalbarczyk.

One more surprise addition to the wonderful cast is University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman, who will be guest starring as Mother Ginger opening night.

Ballard, Liu, and Kalbarczyk all expressed excitement for their fresh roles, especially Ribbon Candy, a dance that all three are in.

“I like Ribbon Candy because it’s new [choreography] and it’s really fun because there are only four of us, and three of us are from Uni,” said Ballard.

Ballard, Liu, Kalbarczyk, and Shenk have been in “The Nutcracker” for two, four, five, and five seasons, respectively. They have been in various roles over the years from corps to soloist.

“We’ve kind of been rotating through the roles, and now we’re older and those roles that we saw when we were little now we have them, and it’s fun that we finally get to do them because we get to put our own twist on things,” said Kalbarczyk.

With tech week and rehearsal behind the dancers and the anticipation of opening night upon them, the girls are ready to perform.

“I am very excited,” said Liu. “It’s great because everybody [knows] each other and we’re all helping each other out and we get together and put the scenes together and it’s awesome. ... Come to see 'The Nutcracker'! The performance will be great.”