Albuquerque area youth were selected to perform alongside 40 Moscow Ballet professionals in the 20th Anniversary Great Russian Nutcracker at Kiva Auditorium in December. Renee Antoinette's School of Dance was the host studio for Moscow Ballet’s Student Program in Albuquerque. A Moscow Ballet soloist serves as Audition and Rehearsal Director.
Pictured here: Student dancers in a past performance of the Great Russian Nutcracker.
Selected student dancers in Act I are: Party Guests: Astraea Baca, Claire Carter, Caitlyn Cordova, Olivia Cordova, Jasmine Day, Jenna Fraley, Kelliana Gonzales, Alsace Harvey, Meleah Kain, Tanya Makhnina, Jordyn Montano, Alexis Montoya. Mice: Dajah Aragon, Joely Baca, Makayla Cordova, Kamryn Duenas, Amiah Dutra, Nina Estrada, Valerie Griego, Isabella Sais, Jaylin Scott, Bailey Washburn. Snowflakes: Grace Crandall, Olga, Dernova, Martiza Garcia, Emma Gurule, Abigail Hughes, Kaitlyn Highes, Holly LaFayette, Avery Latter, Anisa Lucero, Alexis Montoya, Ellena Trujeque, Jordan Washburn. Angels: Alexa Baca, Joely Baca, Abigail Brown, Jayde Chavez, Makayla Cordova, Avery Fraley, Dominique Gallegos, Felecia Landavazo, Katya Makhnina, Yolonnie Naylor, Lyndsey Orris, Isabella Sais. Butterflies: Jasmine Day, Alsace Harvey, Janae Leyba, Kristen Trujillo. Dancers in Act II's variations are: Spanish: Kamryn Duenas, Meleah Kain, Janae Leyba, Kristen Trujillo. Russian: Jenna Fraley, Tanya Makhnina, Danee Bustos, Gabriel Gonzales. Chinese: Olivia Cordova, Kelliana Gonzales, Jasmine Day, Alsace Harvey. Arabian: Selena Gutierrez, Cynthia Lovato.
Every year since 1993, Moscow Ballet has engaged local ballet students and host studios in cities on the North American tour, offering them the most unusual opportunity of auditioning, rehearsing, and performing in a professional setting. Children ages 7 to 16, under 5”2” and with some ballet training are eligible to audition.
Pictured: Students in cities across the country auditioned for a part in the Great Russian Nutcracker.
Moscow Ballet’s 20th anniversary Great Russian Nutcracker celebrates the 50,000+ student dancers (an average of 50 students in 50 cities over 20 years time) who have performed along-side the Russian cast of 40 on annual North American tours. The commitment to deliver children’s programming, in tandem with acclaimed ballet performances, began 20 years earlier when Moscow Ballet producers, then working with Connecticut Dance Theatre, invited Dance Theater of Harlem directors to work with their Hartford students. Among those dedicated students was Charmaine Hunter who went on to become star of Arthur Mitchell’s Fire Bird. Other children’s programming includes 1984 “Cynthia Gregory Celebration Tour” with the “Just Say No” campaign as it’s official message and chaired by First Lady Nancy Reagan; Russian-Cultural Ballet program produced in museums and art institutions; “Cinderella Around the World” dance and literacy program; and “First International Glasnost Festival Tours” included symposiums, screenings, poetry readings, and more for students and public at Dartmouth, Yale, and other colleges. Today Moscow Ballet offers all children New Horizons: A Children’s Program for Life, addressing diet, exercise and creative expression through interactive experiences with Moscow Ballet dancers. www.nutcracker.com/education.
