RAYMOND – You would think 15-year-old Adrienne Pelletier and her 17-year-old sister, Rhiannon, would be too young to have numerous aches and pains, but when you consider their passion lies in ballet, it’s easy to understand why.

Pointe shoes, where nothing comes between a ballerina’s toe tips and the stage floor except for a few layers of canvas and cardboard, are only the beginning. Imagine also the years of training for both girls, them standing at the bar in dance class, carefully repeating and perfecting the progressively more difficult routines. And think of the hours of leaping, jumping and pirouetting, all the while holding mid-air poses that require strength of muscle and fearless focus.

Or rather don’t, since Rhiannon, known for her powerful and athletic abilities on the stage, and Adrienne, whose specialty is her technique and her acting, would rather you just sit back and enjoy the beauty of ballet.

“Obviously you want to do a good job, but it’s not always for selfish reasons,” Rhiannon said. “To have the audience watch you and enjoy your performance. That’s what we want. When we were little out in the audience watching these big girls and wanting to be just like them someday, to be able to be that for these little girls that are watching us today, is pretty neat.”

The feeling they receive from performing is also what they live for. Despite the chronic aches, the two sisters from Raymond, both longtime students at Maine State Ballet, are taking leading roles in the upcoming edition of the Falmouth-based company’s performances of “The Nutcracker” at Merrill Auditorium, which kicks off this Saturday. And the old pros, members of the company for about 10 years now, know pain is just a part of the business of being a ballerina.

Their mother, Beth Pelletier, who home-schools her daughters and their brother, DJ, and plays chauffeur for her daughters so they can make their dance lessons and rehearsals four days a week nearly all year long, knows their inner battles all too well.

“Ballet is as athletic as any sport, but you have to make it pretty. They’ve both suffered through injuries, and even now they’re in pain,” Beth said last week during an interview in the living room of their Panther Pond home.

Rhiannon, the older sister who aims to be a broadcast journalist someday, says matter-of-factly, “I have Achilles tendonitis in both legs, I’ve got something wrong with my ankle now, I don’t even know what’s wrong with it. Back pain, hip pain, and,” glancing at her sister, Adrienne, seated next to her on the couch, “she’s got a long list, too.”

“Oh yes, back pain, my feet hurt a lot. They tend to have aches in them every time I wear pointe shoes. My arms, ribs and everything is sore after a long day,” the petite 15-year-old said referring to bruises on her rib cage acquired from being lifted during certain ballet moves.

“And you have to do it with a smile on your face. You have to be pretty,” Beth reiterates in amazement at her daughters’ ability.

Beauty. Power. Grace. According to Maine State Ballet’s artistic director Linda Miele, of Windham, the girls have it in spades. And the sisters, whose interest in ballet was sparked more than a decade ago with a visit to a “Nutcracker” performance, are more than ready to display it in front of the 1,200-person audiences that make the show a holiday tradition.

“It’s very unusual to have two such fine dancers coming out of one family,” Miele said. “They are very, very different from each other, and this particular year they are both featured very prominently in ‘Nutcracker’. So it’s pretty exciting for their family.”

“Rhiannon, she’s tall, she’s long. She’s very powerful. She has a very powerful technique,” Miele said. “Adrienne is very small, yet her technique is so good, and she’s such a fine actress so we use her like a soloist.

“So, they’re very different, but both are very dedicated, very hard workers, very deserving of the roles that they’ve got this year in Nutcracker.”

They are dream roles for both girls. Rhiannon is playing Lead Spanish, also known as Chocolate from Spain, as well as Dew Drop, a role she was hoping for since she first saw “The Nutcracker” as a young girl. Adrienne is just as excited to be playing Clara, who is on stage for nearly the entire performance. And both girls feel fortunate Miele chose them for the role.

“It was one of the most overwhelming moments of my life,” Adrienne said. “Oh, I can’t even explain it. It was one of those times where … I just cried.”

What made it even more special was that Adrienne’s friend, Shannon Dunbar, was also chosen to share the demanding lead role of Clara.

“I’ve wanted that role for a long time now, since I was little,” Adrienne said. “And the person I’m doing it with, she’s been my best friend since we were 9 years old, and I remember us saying to each other long ago, ‘Wouldn’t it be so cool if you and I would perform Clara together?’ But we would just laugh at ourselves and think that could never happen. But it has. And it’s amazing.”

Mom Beth recalls seeing the two 15-year-olds immediately after Miele chose them to share the role of Clara, a character who dreams she is wafting through magical locales like the Pine Forest and Land of Sweets.

“Linda comes to find me and she says, ‘Beth, come into my office.’ She opens her office door and Adrienne and Shannon are sitting there in tears and I just look and say, ‘Why is everyone crying?’ Linda walks in and says, ‘Meet our Claras.’ It was an overwhelming moment,” she said.

As overwhelming as Miele’s choice was of Adrienne, so, too, was her choice of Rhiannon as Dew Drop, a role that usually goes to an older female ballerina who can manage the more athletic moves.

“I wasn’t expecting Dew Drop at all,” Rhiannon said. “When I was little and would go to a show, that was what I wanted. I didn’t want to do the Sugar Plum Fairy or anything like that, I wanted Dew Drop because I knew that was the kind of dancer I was. I wanted to be the powerhouse, doing all the tricks. I had hoped for it someday, maybe in my 20s, but I never thought that day would be so soon.”

While the two girls differ in their dancing styles, they share the ability to focus and dedicate themselves to a cause, despite whatever pain and sacrifices may come.

“Ballet definitely helps you concentrate, and you’re very disciplined, absolutely,” Rhiannon said. “And it definitely makes homework easier. You learn to sit and not be bothered, just be in your element.”

It’s similar to being on stage, Adrienne says, where the “fourth wall” of the audience is something to be aware of, but not considered.

“When you get out there and you’re in character, you’re in a different mode,” Adrienne said. “You just focus on what you’re doing and stay in character.”

Since both are home-schooled (Rhiannon is also enrolled in a few introductory college classes at Saint Joseph’s College), the structure provided by formal schooling is mostly nonexistent. But the girls, their mother said, are able to stay on top of all their pursuits because of their ballet training.

“They are at the age that they just do their school work,” she said. “I don’t have to be on them. And I do think that comes from dancing. They know we have to leave at 2:30 p.m. to get to class, and they have to get their stuff done.”

“Ballet is very rigid. You have to pay attention to the teacher, and you’re taught that from Day 1,” Rhiannon said. “You stand at the bar, you listen and you don’t interrupt class. You focus, you work your hardest, and if you’re not working your hardest, then you’re not going to progress. It’s like a sport. The harder you work, the more likely you are to move up in the ranks.”

And getting to perform on stage, especially in leading roles at Merrill Auditorium in “The Nutcracker,” makes it all worthwhile.

“It’s special. It makes you feel special just being involved in something that really does feel bigger than yourself,” Rhiannon said. “When you can stand on that stage, and know to some extent that everybody is watching you, and you feel that applause, it’s unlike anything else. It’s incredible.”

Rhiannon Pelletier of Raymond, above, in costume in the lead Spanish role in the Maine State Ballet production of “The Nutcracker,” will share the stage with her sister Adrienne as the traditional holiday favorite kicks off Saturday at Merrill Auditorium in Portland.Courtesy photos
Adrienne Pelletier, in a recent performance of “Can Can Parisien,” has been chosen to play Clara, one of the leading roles in “The Nutcracker.”
Raymond sisters Rhiannon Pelletier, left, and Adrienne Pelletier, play leading roles in the Maine State Ballet production of “The Nutcracker” at Merrill Auditorium in Portland. In the background are their costumes. Staff photo by John Balentine