Hanford area youth were selected to perform alongside 40 Moscow Ballet professionals in the 20th Anniversary Great Russian Nutcracker at Hanford Fox Theatre in December. The Dancing School was the host studio for Moscow Ballet’s Student Program in Hanford. 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: Wilma Tsutsui, Kerriana Rambonga, Hannah Baxter, Anastyn McVay, Katarina Quintana, Madyson Brock, Bryce Tompkins, Annabelle Alavarez, Miranda Reid, Kiley Reetz, Cooper Walker, Lilli Alvarez. Mice: Wilma Tsutsui, Anastyn McVay, Kiley Reetz, Lilli Alvarez, Elizabeth Buenrostro, Phoebe Williams, Maykaila Spidell, Jenesis Mendez, Destiny Alvarez, Noelle Marroquin. Snowflakes: Layne Harris, Ianthe Jimenez, Kiarra Mendez, Kendall Hinton, Jasmine Juarez, Tori Robinette, Rachel Yepremian, Samantha Lopez. Angels: Julie Clausen, Emily Dixson, Danika Jones, Denae Vaughn, Aubrey Tuttrup, Manpreet Somal, Angelina Burgos, Miranda Reid. Dancers in Act II's variations are: Spanish: Madyson Brock, Cooper Walker. Russian: Katarina Quintana, Bryce Tompkins. Chinese: Kerriana Rambonga, Hannah Baxter, Anastyn McVay, Annabelle Alavarez. French: Layne Harris, Samantha Lopez.

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.

New Horizons Master Class with Moscow Ballet soloist Olga Aru
Friday, October 19
Roosevelt School of the Arts
4250 E. Tulare Avenue, Fresno, CA 93702

Dance students at Roosevelt School of the Arts are invited to join Moscow Ballet soloist Olga Aru in a New Horizons Master Class on Friday, October 19 at 9 am–10:25 am. She will teach students in the Russian Vaganova ballet method. This is a unique opportunity for any dance student!

Olga Aru (pictured right) is a rising star ballerina and ballet teacher. She received her degree in ballet and dance pedagogy from the the Kiev State Ballet College in Ukraine, and most recently performed with Les Ballet Persans in Stockholm, Sweden. In Cairo, Egypt she danced in Tut Ankh Amon at the Cairo National Opera House. She has also toured Portugal and China. Olga’s repertoire includes Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Don Quixote, as well as the Heart of the Snow Queen, a modern ballet choreographed by Alla Rubina.

Students can register by contacting Elizabeth Zobian, ballet teacher at Roosevelt School, at (559) 891-0388 or JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING . For more information about the Master Class, call (800) 320-1733 ext. 21.

About New Horizons
Moscow Ballet's New Horizons: A Children’s Program for Life is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that provides children a world class performance, cultural immersion, and personal role modeling with Moscow Ballet's highly trained dancers. The children interact with the dancers in movement and creative expression workshops, inspiring them throughout the rest of their lives.