It’s the Sunday after Labor Day, and one particular Christmas ballet is on everyone’s mind. Stephens Auditorium is full of dancers nervously talking to their friends, waiting for tryouts to begin. Everyone wants a part in “The Nutcracker.”

Hundreds of hopefuls show up to Stephens, prepared to win a role in the Christmas classic. This year wasn’t any different, says Robert Thomas, the ballet’s choreographer for the past 23 years. Thomas says close to 250 dancers of all ages will get a part in the performance.

The process is basically the same each year, Thomas says, with the performers arriving at Stephens at noon.

“They can be as young as eight and then anything up to death, as long as they can be physical on stage,” Thomas says.

The dancers register and receive a number. They are broken up into age groups and taken up on stage to do simple steps for the six judges who are carefully critiquing them. The judges don’t waste any time and immediately begin looking for Clara, the lead in the ballet.

The dancers are excitable, all hoping to be Clara.

“I felt kind of nervous going to the audition, but it ended up being fun,” says Anna Gall, a fifth-grader from Bondurant.

It is a long day for the judges, who have to cast every role in the ballet that night. A different lead for the ballet is chosen for each night of the performance, while other dancers can overlap into other performances and different parts.

The judges pick out three dancers who have obvious rhythm and poise and immediately start looking for girls to play Clara’s friends in the ballet. The friends of Clara have to be close to the same size as her so it doesn’t look odd on stage, Thomas says.

The younger kids stay until 3 p.m. By then, the judges have a few Claras in mind, as well as her group of 10 friends. The parade of children is followed by adults trying out for their parts, followed by the point‚ dancers who also are trying out for specific roles.

“It takes four or five hours to cast everyone and by then it’s usually around 1 or 2 a.m.,” Thomas says.

After the deliberation is finished and the Iowa State Center is given all the names of people chosen, all dancers who tried out are sent a letter in the mail stating whether they were chosen for a part or not.

One of the young girls who won the role of Clara for one performance, Jordan Bundy, a seventh-grader at Ames Middle School, says she was really nervous when the letter came that day.

“I wanted it more than anything in the world,” she says. “A wave of joy came over me, and I started jumping up and down when I saw I got the part of Clara.”

Sarah Koehler, another seventh-grader at Ames Middle School, says her friends were calling her when they received their letters and telling her what parts they were chosen for. Koehler’s mail arrives later in the day than her friends’. She couldn’t wait any longer when the mail finally arrived.

“I was really happy when I saw I got the part I had wanted for the past four years,” she says.

After everyone cast in the ballet receives his or her letter, they will have nine weekends and four evening rehearsals to prepare for the show, Thomas says. That is a typical amount of time to prepare for a performance such as this.

On the night of the opening performance, he’s a nervous wreck when he’s sitting around, not being able to do anything.

“The anticipation is the most draining,” he says.

Thomas takes every precaution necessary to cover any problem that could arise that night. Backstage, dozens of extra people wait to help the dancers find lost costume pieces, calm them down, or help them get where they need to be.

When the curtain finally goes up, all of the dancers rush to their places and all of the hard work, sore muscles and lost free time will be validated as the audience will once again be pulled into the magical world of “The Nutcracker.”

“If I’ve done my job, it’ll look like I’m doing nothing,” he says. “If I haven’t, I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off.”

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What: “The Nutcracker Ballet”

Where: Stephens Auditorium

When: 2 p.m., Saturday-Sunday

Cost: $11.50-$13.50 students, $13.50-$15.50 public