Dances for the youngsters generally featured a few elementary ballet steps: hopping, crossing footwork for the bonbons, precision march steps for the soldiers. All were performed with good form and rhythm, a tribute to focused training under academy Director Yelena Borisova.

Older students displayed more expressive movement in more extensive roles. On Friday, Alexandria Loy was limber as the broken nutcracker toy, and Grace Cuny’s Clara traced beautiful lines during slow, precise turns and elegant arabesques.

Vetrov’s Nutcracker at times lacked ideal continuity but added interesting dimensions to the story.

Having the Mouse King (Shea Johnson) invade the Enchanted Kingdom at the start of Act 2, for example, amped the drama and made the subsequent exotic variations more celebratory.

Throughout those bravura dances, the company principals displayed businesslike panache but never electrified the audience. Marina Goshko displayed stamina and versatility dancing in the Snow, Spanish, French and Waltz of the Flowers numbers.

Olga Pavlova’s precision footwork and dizzying turns sparked the Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy; Andrey Prikhodko seemed lighter than air during a circling series of jumps, leaps and turns.

The Nutcracker 2 p.m. Sunday at Texas Hall, University of Texas at Arlington
$10-$30

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