Bakersfield area youth were selected to perform alongside 40 Moscow Ballet professionals in the 20th Anniversary Great Russian Nutcracker at the Fox Theatre in December. J & M Dance Center was the host studio for Moscow Ballet’s Student Program in Bakersfield. 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: Hannah Carruthers, Citlali, Desiree Gonzales, Tania Gonzales, Allison Jacobson, Makenna Kephart, Cambria Lambert, Kathryn Pickard-Switzer, Ashby Shugart, Bailey Veiga, Robbie Walker, Hailey Whittington. Mice: Desiree Gonzales, Tania Gonzales, Bailey Veiga, Brianna Backhaus, Grace Calvillo, Sara Dyess, Lillian Ellis, Cassie Smith, Emma Grimes, Rebekah Price. Snowflakes: Emila Barron, Alexis Crowell, Gabriella Gonzales, Zellie Greenhalgh, Lanie Hatala, Maile Hernandez, Samantha Howard, Mallory Hughes, Peyton Kirk, Mckenzie Shuggart, Jamie Thompson, Liliana Wilsted. Angels: Brianna Backhaus, Grace Calvillo, Lillian Ellis, Emma Grimes, Rebekah Price, Vanessa Chao, Anna Rinaldi, Amanda Sabo, Dione Sheehan, Darian Wren. Butterflies: Renee Ellis, Jill Handy, Julie Handy, Kylie Solomon. Dancers in Act II's variations are: Spanish: Robbie Walker, Hailey Whittington, Madison Jacobson, Lindsay Supple. Russian: Allison Jacobson, Julie Handy, Savannah Selbach, Brinley Marks. Chinese: Cambria Lambert, Madison Jacobson, Ahnnya Smeeks, Saida Woolf. French: Hannah Carruthers, Kathryn Pickard-Switzer. Arabian: Jill Handy, Ahnnya Smeeks.

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.