• • • • •. Los Gatos Ballet, “The Nutcracker,” Flint Center for the Performing Arts, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino. The production of this annual favorite by Los Gatos Ballet features guest artists Koto Ishihara and Gennadi Nedvigin, principal dancers with the San Francisco Ballet. Additional guest artists are from Ballet San Jose, and the San Jose Youth Orchestra will play Tchaikovsky’s score. 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Also 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5; 2 p.m. Dec. 6. $15-$65. losgatosballet.org.

In 1963, after Jackie and Ron founded the Paint and Pantomime Society in England, the family moved to San Carlos, Ron got a job with Eimac, “My sister Stella and her husband were living in Belmont and they were having such a wonderful time,” Jackie said, “We just had to come.”, One day Jackie was out in the garden in her shorts, when she crochet slippers, mustard slipper socks, yellow slipper socks, womens socks, ballet shoes, gift for her, ballet slippers, women& read the notice that the newly opened Circle Star Theater in San Carlos (now gone), was looking for people to take part in their children’s theater, or as Jackie translated: “pantomime.” With minutes to spare before auditions closed, Jackie arrived at the theater, She was told, “Read the Queen,” and she got the part, Jackie had other parts in the children’s theater, She also worked in wardrobe, including for the nighttime star-studded events and met folks like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald..

History and science teacher Sydney Mulkey has witnessed the effects on the teens of working with the Diablo Ballet dancers. Many of the girls initially felt uncomfortable and out of place, or weren’t interested in the class. Others didn’t look forward to the weekly session. But as the class continued, some of the girls took a liking to Jonas and Stegge, Mulkey said. When the time came to make up their first dance and perform it, the experience was a good one. “It was the most entertaining thing. It’s kind of rare to see all of the girls in class interact in a positive way like that and be a functioning group of young women,” Mulkey said.

They also went on to co-author a book, “Rhapsody in Red,” about the 400-year history of Western classical music in China, With their children, Sebastian and Cecilia, they have traveled throughout Asia, discovering music, In 2010, they found themselves in Ulan Bator, Mongolia’s capital, visiting the Mongolian State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet, which had been founded by the Soviets, “It’s very intimate,” Melvin said, “It’s like a family, It has 500 seats, and you go into the back and you smell borscht — borscht and coffee, And they build their own sets, and there are little girls running around, little ballerinas, It’s lovely, a wonderful place, And it’s bitter cold outside, and the radiator is kind of burbling with the heat, and 250 people work there, absolutely devoted to the crochet slippers, mustard slipper socks, yellow slipper socks, womens socks, ballet shoes, gift for her, ballet slippers, women& opera, putting on 28 productions a year, operas and ballets, They’re amazing.”..

Divas for Life 2012. 7 p.m. May 21. Benefit for multiple-myeloma survivor Laura Toby. Divas for Life accompanied by Billy Liberatore. Eagle Theater, 201 Almond Ave., Los Altos. $25-$75 advance, $30-$80 at the door. divasinconcert.com. Silent film evenings with live piano scores by composer Robert Bruce. 7:30 p.m. May 17: “It” (1927) starring Clara Bow. 7:30 p.m. May 18: F.W. Murnau’s “Faust.” 7:30 p.m. May 19: Silent shorts by Buster Keaton. Trinity Cathedral, 81 N. 2nd St., San Jose. $15 single or $38 for three evenings. 905-777-9196 or www.robertbrucemusic.com.