TAMPA -- Given a choice of Nutcrackers, my preference is for productions that feature good young student dancers. There's something timeless and sweet about teenaged Snow Queens, Dew Drops and other soloists, outside of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier, roles that are danced by professional guest artists in any ambitious production. So the Next Generation Ballet Nutcracker I saw this afternoon at the Straz Center was right down my alley, with an impressive group of dancers in the youth company's inagural production, with choreography by artistic director Peter Stark.

Of course, the aesthetic highlight of the performance was the grand pas de deux of Jonathan and Abi Staford, the brother and sister principals with New York City Ballet who danced the Sugarplum Fairy and Cavalier. But in some ways, the most moving episode in the ballet was by Hannah Bettes as the Snow Queen with Jeffrey Cirio (another guest artist, from Boston Ballet) as the Snow King, supported by fine dancing by the Snow Maidens to some of Tchaikovsky's lushest music. Bettes is a Next Generation Ballet New Artist, as is Juliana Richards, who had a sparkling turn as Dew Drop. Gabrielle Beach (pictured here) was Clara, who had quite a lot of dancing to do in Stark's staging, and long-legged Drew Nelson was her Nutcracker Prince.

There were a few flubs in the performance, which played to a virtually full Morsani Hall that had the usual complement of little girls dressed in their holiday best. Downstage right must have been slippery, because a few dancers had missteps there, including the surefooted Jonathan Stafford. The "Great Imperial Ballet'' set  by Thom J. Peterson was excellent, especially the chilly blue scenery for the snow storm, but when the Christmas tree in the Silberhaus living room descended, the horizontal bar holding it was visible. Peterson's costumes looked marvelous, with inventive, whimsical touches, like the little caterpillars that accompanied Caitlin Birt's Shepherdess.

It's a shame that the production was done to a recording. Many of the people in the audience for The Nutracker are seeing their only ballet of the year, and it would be a good thing to give them a complete experience.