A Family Tradition Sweet For Children And Adults Growing up, one of my favorite traditions of the holiday season was going to see Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. It all began because my school nurse did an exam of students' backs. During my exam, she found that I was in need of some help keeping my back straight. She advised my mother to put me in a dance or gymnastics type program that would train and strengthen my back, or I would need to wear a brace to straighten my back later. I opted for ballet. I new world opened for me, as I was introduced to classical music as well as dance. In those dance classes I met all the greats: Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky. [Image Credit: Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rob Besserer, Cumberland Island, Georgia, 1990. Photograph © Annie Leibovitz. From ‘Annie Leibovitz At Work’] My mother was very supportive and coming from NYC had a great passion for t...