When principal dancer Buse Babadag steps onstage this weekend as the Sugar Plum Fairy, she’ll be carrying milestones of her own into Ballet San Antonio’s 40th-anniversary production of The Nutcracker.
Promoted to principal also known as a prima ballerina earlier this year — the highest rank a dancer can achieve in a ballet company — Babadag is the first Turkish dancer to earn that title in the United States, a distinction that still feels surreal as she prepares to dance one of the art form’s most iconic roles in a landmark year for the company.
For Babadag, the anniversary season arrives at a moment she has been working toward since a child, on a path she never expected to walk. Born in Istanbul, she began ballet almost by accident — tagging along to weekend classes because her best friend had an interest in the art but didn’t want to go alone. She enjoyed the mini tutus and didn’t mind dancing for an hour on Saturdays, but saw her future elsewhere.
“Ballet wasn’t on my radar at all,” she said. “I wanted to be a lawyer. I thought I would be a businesswoman in my life.”
Things changed when her friend decided to audition for admission to a conservatory program that would provide an education in ballet. Once again, Babadag accompanied her at the request of her friend’s mother, a decision that would shape the next 20 years of her life.
“Her mother asked my mother if I could go to the audition with her,” Babadag recounted. “In the audition for the conservatory, there’s like 10 people watching you in front of a mirror. It’s kind of like a movie — exciting, but a nervous situation. My mom was like, ‘I’ll ask her,’ and we said ‘sure, we’ll do that. It’s fine, you know; we don’t need to even be selected.’”
The pair attended the audition for a transitional conservatory meant to assist students progressing to higher levels of ballet. While her friend was not selected, Babadag was asked to return and audition for the professional-level track.
“They insisted, and I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll go to the audition.’ Step one, I passed; step two, I passed. Then they told me, ‘Now you should apply so you can start studying.’ I was still not sure,” she said.
She agreed to try it for one year. “As soon as we started that year, within a month, I was sold and obsessed with ballet,” she said, noting that her instructor — a recently retired, “gorgeous-looking” Polish ballet dancer — pushed her to succeed.
“I had a ballet crush on him,” she said. “I wanted to be the best in the class because he would like me. It’s really funny — he’s in Poland right now and we still talk. He’s like my second father, and that’s how I got started in ballet.”
Ballet eventually carried her from Istanbul University State Conservatory to the Ballett-Akademie in Munich, where she trained in the Vaganova technique under former stars of the Bavarian State Ballet. She performed in gala productions across Europe, in cities including Dresden, Rome and Cairo, before moving to the United States in 2014.
Her American career took her to Oklahoma, Florida and later Indiana before she joined Ballet San Antonio as a soloist in 2021, debuting with the company as the Sugar Plum Fairy — the same role she will perform this season in her first Nutcracker as a principal dancer.
“I still can’t believe it,” she said. “This has been my dream for such a long time. Becoming a principal is such a hard thing to achieve — I think maybe 2% of people can have this rank in the world because there are only a few contracts. It happened after four seasons with Ballet San Antonio. When I heard that, I was just crying. I was like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening. Turkey’s gonna lose it over there.’”
The news traveled quickly back home; Turkish media covered her promotion over the summer, opening the doors for dancers to dream bigger.
“Turkey is a huge country, and it’s a huge thing for them that this is happening. Everybody in my country knows me because, you know, I’m the very first one and now kids are growing up and wanting to be like me because I made it so far away from home in such a big country with so much competition,” she said. “I feel like I have to keep pushing to my best to be able to show them a good example so they can also push their dreams and make anything happen.”
That sense of responsibility follows her onto the stage, especially in a season defined by the company’s history. She has danced Ballet San Antonio’s Nutcracker for five years, and she says the troupe’s rendition of the classic — choreographed by former professional dancers and San Antonio locals Haley Henderson Smith and Easton Smith — still surprises her with its unique blend of humor, theatrics and physical difficulty.
Ballet San Antonio soloists Aiden Moss, left, and Alexa Horwath in The Nutcracker in 2024. Credit: Courtesy / Em Watson and Ballet San Antonio
“It’s very unique because I find it has a very good sense of humor in the ballet. I love the rat scene — when they fight, it’s hilarious,” she said as she reflected on what makes San Antonio’s Nutcracker different from others she has performed. “In this version, you can’t keep any of your energy in. You have to take the risk and go for it onstage — like, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ There are flips, there are crazy lifts happening to the music. It’s very impressive for the audience and for us.”
The Nutcracker remains a highlight of her season not just because of the tradition, but because of who shares the stage with her. More than 100 local children rotate through the cast each year, many of them students at Ballet San Antonio School, where Babadag also teaches. Watching them experience the ballet from the inside, she said, is one of the most rewarding parts of performing the show.
“They look up to us, and you can see they’re a little shy and mesmerized, and they want to do our roles in the future,” she said. “It’s such a good feeling because I had those moments when I was younger — I was idolizing people — and now I’m in that position and our school kids are looking up to me. That’s precious. I can’t even explain it.”
Those feelings extend beyond the children in the cast. Each December, as part of Ballet San Antonio’s Send the Kids to the Ballet program, thousands of students from local schools fill the Tobin Center for a special morning performance of the ballet’s second act. For many, it is the first time they have ever seen live theater.
“It’s such a beautiful event. We do the second act during the week and only schools come in and it’s like first-time ballet watchers, as soon as they get in there, they’re already, like mesmerized and amazed, with the theater. The Tobin Center is beautiful,” Babadag said. “Everybody’s smiling because the kids are so cute. It’s just so nice to feel them having a great time.”
She recalled going downtown after one of these performances, she stopped for a coffee when a group of young students approached after a Send the Kids to the Ballet performance.
“They were like, ‘Are you the Sugar Plum Fairy?’ And I said, ‘Yeah,’ and they wanted to take a photo,” she said. “It was just such a cute moment.”
The program’s reach is one reason she believes The Nutcracker remains such a cultural touchstone. For children, she said, it becomes a memory they carry long after the holidays fade. For the company, it’s a chance to reach new audiences who might never otherwise set foot in a theater.
As Ballet San Antonio marks its 40th year, Babadag imagines a future where the company expands outreach efforts and performs not only at the Tobin Center, but in public spaces and neighborhoods across the city. “I would love to do ballet in the park, something free for the community,” she said. “That would be beautiful.”
For now, her focus is on opening weekend — on stepping before thousands of children and families, some watching their first ballet, others returning to a tradition that has anchored the company for decades. It’s a full-circle moment that blends her personal journey with the organization’s.
“I hope people come and see Nutcracker, because they’re going to have so much fun,” she said. “It’s not just ballet, there’s a sense of humor, there’s excitement, you know, all the choreography, all the characters in the second act, it’s very exciting and a big show for the holiday season.”
Ballet San Antonio opens its 40th-anniversary production of “The Nutcracker” on Friday, Dec. 5, with performances running through Dec. 14 at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are available for purchase online starting at $31.