Dance in New York: Critics' picks

As part of its Once Upon a Ballet series, which is aimed at young children, NYTB presents its annual hour-long Art Nouveau version of the holiday ballet, complete with clockwork elves and an owl that flies over the audience. The set design is by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith and the costumes by Sylvia Taalsohn Nolan. (In addition to its annual run at the Florence Gould Theater, the company is also performing a 3pm matinee on December 1 at Queens College's Kupferberg Center.)

The captivating Michelle Dorrance, who won a 2015 MacArthur "genius" grant for her innovative tap work, returns to City Center with a version of The Nutcracker set to Duke Ellington and Bill Strayhorn's 1960 jazz reimagining of Tchaikovsky's ballet score. This evening of holiday entertainment—choreographed by Dorrance and Josette Wiggan, with an assist from five other dancemakers plus improvisions by members of the company—also includes yuletide standards performed by live musicians and singer Aaron Marcellus. 

Austin McCormick and his risqué neo-Baroque dance-theater group Company XIV present a lavish erotic reimagining of the classic holiday tale, complete with circus performers, operatic singers and partial nudity. The word nutcracker has customarily conjured innocent wonder; now be ready to add glitter pasties, stripper poles and comically large stuffed penises to the toys in wonderland. Definitely leave the kids at home.  RECOMMENDED: Company XIV’s Nutcracker Rouge will make you blush

George Balanchine's magical 1954 production, set to Tchaikovsky's timeless score, includes the full New York City Ballet company, two casts of School of American Ballet students, scenery by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, costumes by Karinska and lighting by Mark Stanley, after Ronald Bates's original concept. The show is a magical occasion: Along with a one-ton Christmas tree that grows from 12 to 40 feet, there's a snowstorm of blizzard proportions and a Mother Ginger with a nine-foot-wide skirt. In the end, however, Balanchine's choreography is what holds it all together. It's enchanting, and it never grows old.