“Every year, around the holidays, “The Nutcracker” becomes my whole world. It sounds clichéd, but I live and breathe it! The outfit, the dancing . . . it’s my focus.”

Lael Anderson has a much busier winter season than most high school seniors. A ballerina and student at the Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB), Anderson spends the months leading up to Christmas in what she calls a “never-ending” parade of intensive workouts, rehearsals, classes and costume fittings for her role in a very important Seattle tradition.

Wintertime in the city means several important things to frostbitten Seattleites. The holiday months signal the return of clumsy ice skating in Seattle Center – a mini-Rockefeller Center with twinkling lights – as well as the re-release of Starbuck’s pumpkin-spice latte. A bit more culturally significant, however, is the opportunity to get all decked out for the PNB performance of “The Nutcracker” at McCaw Hall downtown.

As the cold weather packs the streets with muddy slush and traffic, families can find solace in the glittering taffeta of the Sugar Plum Fairies. For the past 22 years, PNB’s staging of “The Nutcracker” has made it a staple of the holidays, as well as a source of pride for all involved. Beautiful costumes and sets and flawless choreography by famed artistic director Kent Stowell and world-famous children's author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak, bring this story to life from Nov. 25 to Dec. 28.

The spinning and twirling – “Fouetté en tournant!” “Glissade!” – that emanate from the stage are the masterful outcome of the dancers’ dedicated practice. For the students and company of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, “The Nutcracker” is not just a night out. It is a crowning achievement.

Anderson is up at 7a.m. It’s cloudy and foggy at her home on the water in Portage Bay, Wash. She is unfazed by the weather and goes about her morning ritual stoically: shower, brush teeth, fix hair, apply make-up, put on school uniform – “Hey, it cuts down my day a little bit!” – and breakfast. A typical morning for a student at Catholic prep school Holy Names Academy. What sets Anderson apart from other Pop-Tart grabbing teenagers, however, is her “mom-approved” breakfast: a bowl of Kashi Go-Lean cereal – described as “cardboard” by her sister – and an egg white omelet.

Ballet is a central part in Anderson’s life, and she has been dancing “since she could walk.” She looks like the quintessential prima ballerina: she has an innocent, child-like face and a muscular, yet delicate, body.

“No one is born with a dancer’s body,” Anderson says, matter-of-factly. “Yeah, sure, you can have a body that is better suited for ballet, but you have to earn the body. Work-outs are intense and the diet really sucks at times.”

This explains the less than scrumptious breakfast, but Anderson grasps her responsibility fully, making sure to fill up on protein and adhere to her low-carb diet. Her mother, Maren Erickson, is helpful in maintaining Anderson’s routine.

“My mom is a dancer, too,” Anderson says. “It makes it a lot easier, because she helps me stay on track. Well, makes me stay on track is more like it.”

Erickson teaches all-ages ballet classes through the Experimental College at the University of Washington, her alma mater where she studied dance. Her studio on University Avenue infuses dance with many other forms of exercise, including Pilates, and is popular among beginners and experts alike.

Erickson’s love of dance spread to her talented daughters. Her eldest daughter eventually turned her interests to horseback riding. Anderson, meanwhile, stayed devoted to dance.

At 2:15 p.m. at Holy Names, most students are counting down the 15 minutes until school is out. But Anderson is already heading to her car. She gets let out early in order to make it to her ballet lessons.

“And now the fun part begins,” she says with a hint of sarcasm.

It is time to jet from Capital Hill to Mercer Street and the PNB Academy, where Anderson is in Level XII, the highest level for people still in high school. “Killing time till graduation,” she attends classes here every day except Sunday. On normal weekdays, she would be at these classes anywhere from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

“But it’s Nutcracker season!” she explains, excitement lighting up her tired eyes.

This means that after her ballet classes, she will have rehearsals until 7:30 p.m. and even later as Christmas approaches.

Anderson has taken part in “The Nutcracker” performances for nine years. Before she was 10, she danced in the “Toy Theatre” prologue, in Act I as a child in Drosselmeyer’s party scene, and even as a mouse in the dreamy battle scene.

She is currently rehearsing for a part in Act II, when Clara and the Nutcracker Prince arrive at the Palace of Sweets and are greeted by the Sugar Plum Fairy, leading to a celebration of the variations of dance. Anderson will play one of the Twelve Chinese Dancers, who dance with umbrellas spinning in what Anderson describes as a “colorful whirlwind.”

This year, she is also an understudy for a prestigious part in the “Waltz of the Flowers.” The waltz is performed by members of the Corps de Ballet, PNB’s professional company, and features costumes modeled after a Victorian bouquet of flowers. As a student at the PNB Academy, Anderson is not yet at the level to be a principal in this dance, but will take part in it if another ballerina cannot.

On a scholarship at the PNB Academy, Anderson takes a variety of classes, including modern dance, variation and partnering, where, as Anderson says, “you dance with the guys.” Besides performing in “The Nutcracker,” PNB students stage a final show at the end of each year. They also stage “parent watch” days, which can create a fairly competitive environment.

“There are a lot of stage moms,” Anderson says, rolling her eyes.

Anderson’s mother, who is experienced in the dance industry, is not obsessed with advancing her daughter’s dancing career. Anderson says that her mother allows her to make her own decisions regarding how much or how little she will dance. As the president of the parents’ club at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Erickson tries to make herself a fixture, and a friend, in daughter’s hectic life. “It’s almost like having a private tutor living with me,” Anderson says.

After she completes her lessons and rehearsals at the PNB Academy, Anderson returns home to show her mother what she has learned that day. “Even when she’s not at ballet, she is doing exercises or showing mom her new combinations,” her sister remarks, seemingly impressed by Anderson’s stern focus.

Her mother helps her daughter with her stretching and balance exercises. “Lots of the positions and steps, like fondu or any basic leap, make you support your body with only one leg, and you have to be able to move around,” Anderson explains.

“Yeah, she’s like a contortionist. It’s so weird.” Her sister adds, laughing.

Anderson ends the night by sitting down to ice her ankle. She thinks about her future and reflects on her past. Over the past few summers, she has been in dance companies in Ontario and New York. This summer, her last summer before entering college, will be different. It will be a time of transition, as she must become accustomed to a life altering choice.

“My parents let me decide for myself about what to do after graduation,” she says pensively. “I decided to stick with dance.” She plans to enroll in a local university – “probably UW or Seattle U” – and continue to dance at PNB, probably as a principal and a member of the corps. That will mean more feature dancing in the big productions like “The Nutcracker.”

“No matter what happens,” Anderson muses, “dancing will always be a part of my life, and hopefully something I can share with my children.”