I've seen a surprising amount of partnering mishaps in the Nutcracker pdd so it is more important for the Cavalier to be a good partner rather than a really showy dancer. For instance in the pique turn to arabesque penchee sequence if the Cavalier isn't RIGHT there to catch the SPF when she dives into that penchee the whole thing looks very mechanical and labored. In fact here's a cool article about all the frantic debuts at the end of the Nutcracker run. Peter Martins says there are 13 hazard