Sara Bacon pulls out a nearly-finished tutu and lays it on her dining room table in the San Fernando Valley. She spent the last night working in front of her TV, carefully sewing on hooks and eyes.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Across the nation and around the world, in certain backstage sanctums, people are fretting over tutus. It’s “Nutcracker” season, when the holiday warhorse ...

As the quiet, constant hum of various sewing machines overlaps with music floating up from dance studios below, a team of busy costumers concentrate on the task at hand. This hum is ever-present in ...