A Nutcracker in Paradise

A Nutcracker in Paradise is the 10th episode of Bunheads Season 1. It first aired on August 20, 2012 and was the summer finale before the show went on winter break and is set to return January 7th, 2013.

Summary
Fanny is asking Michelle about the evil mice dance she told her to choreograph. Michelle warns her that she put her own spin on it and brought in Sasha. Fanny loves her Wall Street take on it and brings Sasha back in. Fanny asks Michelle to take care of the studio while she goes on a romantic getaway with Michael but then a girl walks in and begins practicing Clara. Fanny realizes she forgot about her, "the ringer", a massivly dedicated ballerina who was brought in as Clara.

Michelle notices the conflict between Ginny, Boo, and Melanie and quickly resolves it. However Sasha heads down to fix her problem with "the ringer", who is determined to stay as Clara. Michelle had orginized a fundraiser at the Oyster Bar, which is a success. However Boo is still down about Carl until Michelle gives her advice and she makes a public apology, which Carl accepts. However things don't go well for Fanny, who learned that Michael has bought property in Minasota. Michelle tries to talk to him and tells him about Fanny's plans. Sasha meets a boy named Tyler, who is apart of the school basketball team. He helps hide her as the ringer is following Sasha arround, hoping she will get injured. Godot and Michelle eventually share a kiss as he reveals he's heading to Australia. The next day, Fanny is on edge over last night and kept re-pacing one of the duets in the performance. Ginny keeps telling Matisse all of her future plans with her and Charlie until she sees Charlie with another girl in his car and decides to walk home.

It's show time and Ginny and Melanie get into a fight before they go onstage but the first part of the performance goes well. The AC is down and the girls are getting hot. Michelle tries to spray them with water but sprays them with Mace, a type of pepper spray/tear gas. The girls are all blinded and knock into each other during the nutcracker. Everyone is in a panic back stage and the ringer takes Sasha's role as Clara.

Everyone ends up at the hospital. Ginny and Melanie make up while Fanny blames Michelle for everything bad that has happened recently. Sasha meets Tyler again, now sporting a punk look and calling himself by his middle name Roman. Michelle ends up having another dream dance audition. Hubbell turns out as the one watching the dance and talks to her in her dream. Soon she wakes up. Parents are screaming at Fanny about Michelle and she begins to leave. Sasha stands up on her chair and tries to stop her and the other dancers quickly follow. Michelle thanks them, but runs out the door.

Cast

 * Sutton Foster as Michelle Simms
 * Kaitlyn Jenkins as Betina "Boo" Jordan
 * Julia Goldani Telles as Sasha Torres
 * Bailey Buntain as Ginny Thompson
 * Emma Dumont as Melanie Segal
 * Kelly Bishop as Fanny Flowers

Performances

 * The Nutcracker - Paradise Dance Academy
 * Maybe This Time (Originally from Cabaret) - Michelle Simms

Trivia

 * This episode was orginally going to be the season finale, however more episodes were ordered.
 * This episode is the summer finale.
 * Sasha returns to Paradise Dance Academy.
 * The episode features a cameo by So You Think You Can Dance season 8 finalist Ricky Jaime as RaJahnae's duet partner.