YOUTH AND BEAUTY DANCE IN `NUTCRACKER' ON FRIDAY (DANCE REVIEW)

Between all the gaily-dressed young ballet fanciers in the audience of 2,700 and the 70 fantastically-costumed young ballet dancers onstage, Friday night's performance of "The Nutcracker" was a moving picture of youth and beauty.

The Saint Louis Ballet presentation at the Show Me Center had its stumbles -- a late start due to a burned-out backstage motor, and a balky curtain -- but the dancing and portrayals by the troupe were delightful.

The ballet started slowly with the Christmas Eve party at the home of Doctor and Frau Stahlbaum, but came alive with the introduction of the life-size mechanical dolls danced by Chil Han, Alyssa Sleeper and Shawn Toussaint.

Soon the stage, backed by a ballroom set that almost hid the Show Me Center's basketball banners, was filled with dancing child-mice and child-soldiers.

Ludmilla Dokoudovsky, co-artistic director of the ballet along with her husband Antoni Zalewski, did a funny turn as the overheated grandmother dancing with raffish Mouse King Sigmund Mulnik.

The magical second act offered the most thrilling dancing of the night. Foremost were Lisa Guidi and Han, who danced the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier at a level of excellence expected of the finest ballet companies. The Saint Louis Ballet has existed only since the 1980s.

Another highlight of the second act was the energetic Candy Cane Russian dance featuring Amy Hendricks, Vanessa Kientzy-Payne and Vladislav Stukalov. Stukalov studied at the Bolshoi, which was evident.

A favorite, maybe because Tchaikovsky's music is at his sumptuous best here, was the Dew Drop Fairy danced by Joy Harper.

Lisa Whitehead, a 14-year-old from Benton, Ill., was a perfect Clara, in whose dream a real-life nutcracker turns into a prince as the Kingdom of the Sweets comes alive with confections and flowers. Whitehead was remarkably natural and obviously is developing superb ballet skills.

Her prince, Gabi Pipede, was a fine partner.

Dokoudovsky's youthful charges dance with confidence and accomplishment. Thanks, Saint Louis Ballet and the Show Me Center, for sprinkling fairy dust over Southeast Missouri's Christmas season.