ALEXANDRIA, Va. — When the curtain rises at the Alexandria Community Nutcracker this month, audiences will see more than just another performance of a holiday classic.

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They’ll see a scene that once felt impossible.

“I’m ultra grateful… yeah,” said Erica Kraft, watching her daughter, Elsie, warm up inside a studio at West Potomac High School. When Elsie was born with Down Syndrome, doctors didn’t know whether she would talk, let alone dance. “We were like, we’ll figure that out as we go.”

Fourteen years later, Elsie is leaping across a studio floor.

“I’ve been dancing for seven years now,” she said with a grin.

Elsie is part of the Purple Tutu, an adaptive ballet program that has been expanding access in Alexandria, Va., since 2016. The program was in

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