During last night’s “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” on NBC, Mariah Carey’s performance of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” stole the show, but not for the reason you might think. Of course the diva hit those impossible high notes, but it was her crew of elfish dancers that made my jaw hit the floor.

Choreographed by the incomparable Debbie Allen (DT August 2011), many of the tiny comp kids were from the New York and New Jersey area. They frolicked, flipped and even did a little pop-and-locking, all with the polish and presence of Broadway veterans (and a hint of b-boy attitude).

Allen appeared on California’s KTLA News this morning, just returned from New York, where she said she watched the dancers perform from the sidelines. “My real passion is kids, the arts and passing that baton,” the Emmy-winner said. Of the Rockefeller performance, she added, “Those elves. What a great night, what an inspiration.”

Debbie Allen on the April 2001 cover of Dance Teacher