A black and white photo of a boy holding onto a girl's hand while being pulled away by a man.

Act I: Michael Arshansky, Rusty Nickel, and Alberta Grant as Herr Drosselmeyer, his nephew, and Mary

A black and white photo of Alberta Grant hugging a nutcracker in front of a glittery background.

Act I: Alberta Grant with the Nutcracker

A black and white photo of a boy and girl standing in a spotlight in the bottom left corner of a dark background.

Act I: Rusty Nickel as Drosselmeyer’s nephew (the Nutcracker Prince) and Alberta Grant as Mary in the New York City Ballet production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®. Photo by Frederick Melton, 1954.

Act I: Rusty Nickel as Drosselmeyer’s nephew (the Nutcracker Prince) and Alberta Grant as Mary in the New York City Ballet production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®

Photo by Frederick Melton, 1954

Gelatin silver print, 7 1/2 x 10 in.

This image of the two children, encircled in a spotlight and surrounded by darkness, illuminates the childhood experience of the adult world that dominates Act I in Balanchine’s version of The Nutcracker.

Holding Division: Jerome Robbins Dance Division

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