The first time Jennifer Hackbarth took the stage for Milwaukee Ballet’s The Nutcracker , she was about 7 years old.

The Whitefish Bay native had “done nearly every child role in that production that was possible” as a student at the ballet school, she says. After launching her professional career in New York, Germany and Florida, Hackbarth returned home this year as the Ballet’s newest leading artist – and revisiting the ballet that started it all makes the homecoming sweeter. “When you evolve and grow with a ballet, it becomes very dear to your heart,” she says. “Because it’s not just the music and the story – you have all those memories attached to it.”

Milwaukee Magazine asked Hackbarth about returning to Milwaukee and the Ballet, and what makes The Nutcracker special to her.

See Full Page