For many area residents, the Andalusia Ballet’s annual production of The Nutcracker is a de rigeur part of the holiday.

Andalusia Ballet’s founder and artistic director, Meryane Martin Murphy, said there are a few new twists this year.

“We have Mouserinas,” she said. “They’re bigger mice. We still have baby mice, but this year, we have big mice, too. The costumes are fantastic. They add a lot of humor and excitement to the battle scene we have not had in the past.

And finally, the Andalusia Ballet has a canon.

“I’ve been wanting one for many years,” Mrs. Murphy said. “Finally, Mark (Murphy) made us a cannon that actually goes ‘boom.’ We hope everybody will enjoy that.”

The Ballet also has added new costumes, and brought some very old costumes from the earliest Nutcrackers back to life.

“It’s very fun for the dancers to get to the costumes of dancers they knew,” she said. “It’s a part of our history.”

The production features a number of guest dancers, including Joel Proudy, from New York, who will be the Cavalier prince to Emily Kelley’s Sugarplum Fairy; Dustin Simmons of the Pensacola Ballet; and Jonathon Carey from Huntsville Ballet.