"We need you Ronn," the man says to Guidi, who is noticeably shy of the attention.

As Guidi tells the story about why he decided to bring his "Nutcracker" back to Oakland's Paramount Theatre Dec. 22 to 24, the scene at the Egg Shop does not seem so unusual. People do this to him all the time.

At the local drugstore several months ago, a woman at the counter asked him, "Ronn, are you bringing the 'Nutcracker' back? I have grandchildren that have to see it."

And as he walked the streets of the Oakland village he has lived in for decades, Guidi was stopped by yet another fan who needed to know if he was bringing the classic holiday ballet back to the Oakland stage.

So Guidi thought about it. Could he raise the $200,000 needed to produce the ballet? Would people come?

The answer to both, he soon found, is a definitive yes. Guidi has raised more than $160,000 from individuals, companies and past donors to stage the show, and he's steadily marching toward his goal of 4,000 seats sold. Members of the Oakland East Bay Symphony have signed on to accompany the performance with live music, which hasn't been done in years.

Guidi is 71 years old and looks at least 20 years younger. His age is only revealed in his accomplishments: He founded the Oakland Ballet in 1965 and led it until 1998, when he retired. During his tenure, he presented works by legends Leonide Massine and Bronislava Nijinska, which brought worldwide attention to the company.

Guidi grew up in Oakland and attended school there, graduating from Oakland High School.

He was a fourth-grade student when he decided he wanted to dance for a living.

Along with being a dancer for much of his life, Guidi has also been man of God. In the 1950s, he lived for two years in a Cicstercian monastery in Germany where he took vows of poverty, obedience, celibacy, chastity and silence.

The chatty Guidi said the vow of silence was the hardest to keep.

Guidi has two children, a daughter and son ages 38 and 40, who both live in Germany.

He now shares his Montclair home with a deaf man who can't speak. Guidi met the man four years ago at an Oakland BART station when the man was homeless and desperate. Guidi opened his home, and now takes his roommate to work every morning and picks him up every night.

Guidi says he continues the relationship because he believes it is important to take someone from the streets and help make their lives worthwhile.

"You have to have people who believe in you," Guidi says.

The men share Guidi's home with 25 birds, which Guidi cares for in an outdoor aviary. He has zebra finches, sparrows, canaries and a nightingale he bought to celebrate his 70th birthday.

"I wanted to be an ornithologist," Guidi says of his collection of birds, "until ballet took over."

Guidi left the Oakland Ballet rather suddenly in 1998, complaining of hip troubles and a problem mole on his skin. He had his hip replaced shortly after leaving the company and the mole has since been removed.

After Guidi's departure, the Oakland Ballet hired Karen Brown, a former principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem, as its artistic director.

Brown's dream for the Oakland Ballet to present multi-cultural dance pieces, including a holiday performance to replace the "Nutcracker," never materialized. The company shut down after its 40th anniversary season last year, citing financial woes caused in part by poor "Nutcracker" ticket sales and a general lack of interest from the East Bay community.

Guidi has always been reluctant to criticize the Oakland Ballet under Brown's leadership, keeping whatever insight he has about its demise to himself.

"It was going a different direction, and whether or not I liked that direction was not important," he says.

Besides, he was too busy working through his retirement to worry about the Oakland Ballet. Guidi was then and is still teaching at the Oakland Ballet Academy, a school for young dancers with 150 students. Guidi has also been staging a "secret" performance of the "Nutcracker" at Holy Names University in the Oakland hills.

Yet Guidi couldn't let go of his 33 years at Oakland Ballet entirely. He visited the ballet warehouse after its closing and saw all his costumes and stage sets there, the physical embodiment of his artistic life. He bought every set and every costume the ballet owned for $12,000.

All "Nutcracker" costumes have been washed and the sets repaired. He is bringing back the performance's Christmas tree, which fans might remember looks like it is growing from the stage floor. There will be pyrotechnics onstage, and 10 former Oakland Ballet dancers from Guidi's tenure have already agreed to be part of the production.

He also has recruited several volunteers to help stage the "Nutcracker," volunteers who appear to rabidly support Guidi in all that he does.

"I don't understand it," he says of his popularity within the East Bay dance community. "I am difficult. I am late. I am a little off the wall with my comments."

Guidi now says there will be more ballet in Oakland, and not just presentations of "Nutcracker," which he says he will continue annually.

"I would like to reestablish professional dancing in the East Bay," he says. "The East Bay deserves it."

Every cent of "Nutcracker" ticket sales will benefit the Ronn Guidi Foundation, which he says is on schedule to present a 2007 season that will include a performance of Guidi's classic interpretation of "Bolero." Guidi is also planning a 2009 production celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ballet Russes.

For legal and financial reasons, Guidi says he may not revive the Oakland Ballet, though he does still own the name.

Whatever the new company is called, Guidi says he is committed to it for as long as he can preach the principles of a pointe.

"I will probably be in the middle of a ballet when the good Lord says 'Come on,'" he says.

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