NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet’s unique “Dance with Us’ program brings the rare opportunity of auditioning, rehearsing, and performing with a professional, international touring ballet company in the Nutcracker and other classic story ballets to generations of American ballet students!

NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet stops in 50+ cities across the country this holiday season. The prestigious ballet company partners with local dance studios to cast young talent to perform onstage alongside professional International artists. NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet will perform from November through December in cities from coast to coast. To find your city visit: nutcracker.com/your-city 

Courtesy of “Los Angeles Times Today,” 7 and 10 pm daily on Spectrum News 1.

 

 

Dance with Us includes partnerships with Host Studios in each tour city, which are carefully developed by Mary Giannone Talmi, co-producer of Talmi Entertainment’s North American tours. NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet Audition Directors audition children in each city, rehearse with them for several days and leave the local Host Ballet Studio to rehearse the children for 6-8 weeks prior to the performance. Studio owners are pleased to offer students personal exposure to the highly trained international dancers and to the professional performance experience.

Cathy Napolitano-Mucci, of Dance Center North in Syracuse NY, hosted auditions for the first Great Russian Nutcracker tour in 1993. She remarks,“I know from watching my students grow and advance since the very first Moscow Ballet tour, that this is one of the most significant experiences a young dancer can have. It lifts them up and humbles them all at the same time.”

Talmi, a Juilliard School graduate, and pioneer of the regional dance movement, developed Dance with Us with the intent to bring this unique opportunity to students and studios in regional markets. The program is 100% underwritten by NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet, including administration, international and national transportation for international ballet dancers as well as their salaries and living expenses (when not provided by local host families). There is no instruction fee charged, but NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet requires a minimum $50 Participation Fee from all youth dancers who are cast in the performance; this fee helps cover costumes, their maintenance, and other related administrative costs.

In addition to Dance with Us, Talmi developed other programming that provides a continuum of experiences extending over a 6-month period.

Earlier children’s programming includes the 1984 “Cynthia Gregory Celebration Tour,” and “Just Say No” campaign as its official message, chaired by First Lady Nancy Reagan. Moscow Ballet’s Russian-Cultural Ballet program was produced in nine museums and art institutions across the US. Later, Cinderella Around the World dance and literacy program accompanied Moscow Ballet's 2004 North American tour of Cinderella. The “First International Glasnost Festival Tour” included symposiums, screenings, poetry readings, and more for students and the public at Dartmouth, Yale, and other colleges.
 

NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet also offers children New Horizons: A Children’s Program for Life, addressing diet, exercise, and creative expression through interactive experiences with international artists. To read more click here.

Contact Us at 800-320-1733 or [email protected].