Los Altos dancers leap into the Nutcracker season

Senior Catherine McGrath’s decade-long dance career started in second grade, dancing in the living room with her mom and her friends. “My mom is definitely the reason I started dancing,” Catherine said. “She did ballet when she was younger, and she had these little classes for my friends and me at our house.” In the eyes of Catherine’s second-grade-self, her mother was, as mos...

Because of the Nutcracker's timelessness, it is often the first play children see and perform in. When freshman Stella James saw the Nutcracker for the first time, she fell in love with the Sugar Plum Fairy. From that point forward, Stella set her sights on one day dancing that very role. Stella is well on her way to her goal, with 12 years of dance experience and five years of participation...

Ballet is the gift that keeps on giving for senior Megan Liu. From allowing her to travel the world to providing respite in the midst of life’s inundating stressors, ballet has been with Megan since she was four years old. “I was initially put into dance by my mom since I always seemed to be jumping around,” Megan said. “Since then, I’ve stayed in ballet because of the friends I’...