Forget the name — Ballet San Jose’s presence at the State Theatre through Dec. 2 is the revival of a beloved local holiday tradition. Untold numbers of Clevelanders made the trip downtown to see annual performances of “The Nutcracker” in the years before the Cleveland San Jose Ballet — once known simply as the Cleveland Ballet — changed its name and moved to California’s Silicon Valley in 1999. Longtime artistic director Dennis Nahat, who has since added executive director to his title, talks about why it took so long for the company to get back here, what makes “The Nutcracker” special, holidays on the West Coast, and whether Cleveland will ever be home to a ballet troupe again.
