Gisella Caccialanza Christensen danced as the Sugar Plum Fairy with brother-in-law Willam while her husband, Lew Christensen, served in the army. Before her death in 1998, she recalled the behind-the-scenes preparations. “We made our own tights then too,” she said. “We had to sew our stockings onto little pants to make tights and, like old-style tights, they’d bag out and wouldn’t bounce back and cling to your legs. We sewed pennies or nickels to the waistbands so we’d have something to grab onto to yank up the tights. You couldn’t practice pliés or anything before a performance, or else you’d be standing there with baggy knees when the curtain came up. The zipper on my costume split while I was dancing in the dress rehearsal of Nutcracker. I remember Willam saying to me, ‘Good luck, sis, and don’t breathe!’”