Team Kirtland goes Nutcracker Published Dec. 10, 2007 By Lia Martin Nucleus journalist KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, New Mexico -- The New Mexico Symphony Orchestra played for the Nutcracker Ballet danced by the New Mexico Ballet Company with guest artist Angelie Renay Melzer. Mrs. Melzer is the wife of Kirtland AFB Maj. Robert Melzer II, a 512th Rescue Squadron pilot. She has been asked to dance the leading role of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Suzanne Johnston, the founder of the ballet company. There will be 250 dancers performing with Mrs. Melzer. "I have done the Nutcracker since I was 12," Mrs. Melzer said Monday, as she explained why she began to dance. When only 5-years-old, she learned that she had inherited scoliosis of the spine. By 7-years-old she was studying ballet and exercising to prevent further degeneration. A few years later the exercise discipline Pilates' was added to her regime to keep the wife, mother and dancer flexible. This will be the second time the dancer has performed with the New Mexico Ballet Company. She has studied with the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, Wash., the Colorado Ballet in Denver, Colo., and the Milwaukee Ballet in Milwaukee, Wis., to name a few companies. Mrs. Melzer met Major Melzer when she was 17-years-old. "He did his flying thing, and I did my dancing thing," Mrs. Melzer says. "We made it work." The couple has three boys, who are 6, 4 and 1-year-old. "I think about the little girls seeing the Nutcracker for the first time," said Mrs. Melzer. "I make it special for them."