The minute Haley and Rachel Finerman saw their names on different cast lists for the Sacramento Ballet's upcoming production of "The Nutcracker," they knew something was up.

"Mr. Cunningham (ballet co-artistic director Ron Cunningham) always puts siblings together in the same cast," 11-year-old Rachel said.

Not this time. Not this year. For the first time in the 21 years of the ballet's holiday staple, twins are dancing the same part in the same year. Haley and Rachel are both dancing the coveted role of Clara – Haley in Cast A and Rachel in Cast C. Sofia Ringstrom, 10, will perform the role in Cast B.

(Because there is such a demand to be in the production, which is officially billed this year as "The 21st year of Ron Cunningham's The Nutcracker," there are three casts of young dancers in roles from baby mice to Mother Ginger's children to party kids. This year, nearly 500 children of various ages, races and physical abilities will perform in the ballet.)

Haley and Rachel will celebrate their 12th birthday during the run of the ballet, which opens Saturday and continues through Dec. 23.

But they are old hands at the ballet. This will be Rachel's fifth year in "The Nutcracker" and Haley's fourth. (The first year Rachel performed, Haley had just discovered karate and preferred to kick rather than leap.)

But their friendship with "The Nutcracker" goes back even further.

Almost to the cradle.

"For their second birthday, we took them to 'The Nutcracker'," mom Karen Finerman said in a recent interview at the ballet studio. "They sat and they watched it, and they loved it."

It was the start of a tradition. "We had their third birthday at 'The Nutcracker' – and every birthday since," she said.

The first year Rachel performed in the ballet, she was a cherub – and "our class came to see her," Haley said. By the time auditions for the next production rolled around, Haley was ready to try out, too.

They've performed together in various roles in every production for the past four years.

"We knew we were going to be party girls (at least)," Haley said of this year's auditions. "Then I got set as Clara in Cast A. And then Rachel was set in Cast C."

"They were really surprised that they weren't in the same cast," their mother said. "But it was a nice surprise."

A dancer can be cast as Clara only once, but this won't be the end of the Finermans' participation. "As long as we're under 5 feet tall, we can try for party girl," Rachel said.

And there are other roles they can aspire to as skills improve.

"They said, 'We don't care what part we have, we just want to be in it,' " Karen Finerman said.

"I just wanted to do 'The Nutcracker,' " Rachel said. "It's really fun to see all the party kids playing."

"I like working with the professional dancers," Haley said. "When we do the party dance, it's fun to dance with the company members."

Haley and Rachel find inspiration, too, in a cousin who is a member of the famed Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.

"We visited New York two Thanksgivings ago to see the Rockettes' holiday show," dad Jeff Finerman said, "and they got a backstage tour and special T-shirts from their cousin."

Both girls say they want to continue in dance and in music in some form. They study musical theater, tap and ballet at the ballet school and take piano, voice and ice-skating lessons ("But we stopped skating till the first of the year," Haley said.)

They've enrolled in the Natomas Charter School performing arts program and both recently were awarded black belts in karate.

The Finerman girls' story is special – especially the introduction to "The Nutcracker" at 2 – but other dancers also have grown up with (and in) the ballet.

Sacramento Ballet company members Kirsten Bloom, Alexandra Cunningham and Brik Middlekauff have long associations with "The Nutcracker," too.

Middlekauff, a Sacramento native, started taking dance lessons at 3 1/2 and first appeared in "The Nutcracker" at 5.

"I remember when I was 4 wanting to do this," she said. "Mom gave me a choice between ballet and gymnastics (lessons). And I said, 'I want to dance.' After I made my choice, she said I could take gymnastics, too, but I said 'no.' This was everything – 'The Nutcracker.' "

Once Middlekauff started, it became almost an obsession.

"It would be the middle of summer and I'd think: 'Nutcracker' auditions!" she said. This year, Middlekauff is dancing as the Governess, among other roles.

Cunningham was 6 when she first appeared onstage in "The Nutcracker."

"It's just exhilarating as a young girl to be Clara," she said. She danced the part in 1997 after several other roles.

"I did the party scene, I was a Blue (family) girl. I remember really wanting to do the Candy Cane."

Cunningham dances as Columbine, among other parts, this year.

Bloom started dancing at 5, but she lived "in a small town that didn't really have the opportunities like here," she said. She first danced in "The Nutcracker" when she was 15. She didn't get to dance as Clara but she has danced as flowers and in the Snow Court.

"I've risen through the adult roles," she said, adding that this year is her 20th year performing in "The Nutcracker." She plays Clara's mother.

"I see these kids grow up," she says, motioning toward Cunningham and Middlekauff (and more broadly toward the entire studio). "I've seen generations come and go or come and stay."

Generations? An exaggeration perhaps, but only because this "Nutcracker" has only been around 21 years.

Call The Bee's Jim Carnes at (916) 321-1130.