This year I added two new roles to my Nutcracker repertoire.

Demi flowers is a great stamina challenge. I now feel better prepared for the season ahead (the day after xmas I had two demi flowers in a row).
Marzipan is a good coordination challenge (I hadn’t had the opportunity to rehearse it enough to have it in my body), as well as a good chance to work on technique since you aren’t wrestling with a giant flowery skirt. And you can’t forget the yellow tights and shoes. A funny thing happens with the chemical dye that we use to make our shoes yellow and the glue that we use to make our shoes harder. They react to make this super bright red color. A little glue had seaped through the toe part of my shoes and the people in the wings thought I had a bloody foot! Fortunately that was not the case.