Choice roles of prince and princess, magical beings and exotic creatures belong to members of the corps de ballet. But the final grand pas de deux in "The Nutcracker" is always performed by the stars.

Although millions of dancers have participated as mice, soldiers and party children, few reach the ultimate goal of Sugar Plum and Cavalier.

By the time the premiere of "The Nutcracker" took place, in 1892 at the Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, ballet was a highly refined art that had achieved a favored position in the life of the tsar's court and was being performed by some of the world's best dancers.

Ballet Hawaii's version, to be staged by artistic director Pamela Taylor-Tongg at the Blaisdell Friday through Sunday, emphasizes the tradition of generations of dancers working together. In it, children join their parents and grandparents in stately ballroom dances.

More than two decades after she started dancing in Honolulu, Amanda Schull had the honor of dancing the coveted role of the Sugar Plum with her alma mater, Ballet Hawaii, on Maui.

Sitting in a dressing room at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center following Ballet Hawaii's opening performance, Schull, now a member of the San Francisco Ballet, recalled her "Nutcracker" debut.

"I was about 3, and I was a cake-bearer," she said. "Later I was a party girl and a bon-bon." While she danced all the above roles with Ballet Hawaii, Schull later gained further experience at John Landovski's Hawaii State Ballet. "I did every variation in Act 2," she said.

Moving along the trajectory from a cake-bearer at age 3 with "the tights sagging down to her knees," as her mother recalls, to the elegant Sugar Plum who performs the final classical pas de deux of the ballet, Schull's career has followed the path a dancer must take, and that many a tiny "Nutcracker" performer in Hawai'i hopes to follow.

Thousands of companies have produced the ballet, which is popular holiday fare for families. Without large enough — or accomplished enough — students to fill the roles, often dancers from elsewhere must be brought in to enhance the cast. Schull and Joan Boada, free at the time from their San Francisco commitments, were available for the Maui performances.

For Schull, it was like coming home. Only now, instead of dancing as a cake-bearer or bon-bon, she took the lead and filled it beautifully. Schull is still a member of the corps de ballet at San Francisco Ballet, but she is content to be dancing her current roles, particularly in the Balanchine repertory. Judging by her dancing and charisma onstage at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, she may not remain in the corps for long.

This weekend, Ballet Hawaii will offer the Christmas confection to Honolulu audiences. Schull and Boada had to return to California for their own company's "Nutcracker," so they will be replaced by Joachim De Luz and Megan Fairchild from the New York City Ballet.