Select Youth Perform with Moscow Ballet in GREAT RUSSIAN NUTCRACKER Today

Somerville youth ages 7 to 16 years perform alongside Moscow Ballet company of 40 professionals in the Great Russian Nutcracker at Hammerstien Ballroom today, November 30, 4:00pm & 8:00pm. Selected youth dancers perform as Party Children in Act I: Eve Armstrong, Quinn Cappiello, Gabriella Caruso, Erin Ford, Ryen Hagg, Morgan Mehmel, Amanda Osborne, Zoe Papandreou, Sophia Perez, Grace Sellinger, Gillian Warner and Brittany Wilson. Moscow Ballet's "Dance with Us" program sends soloists Svetlana Todinova, Natalia Miroshnyk, Carolina Siscanu and Ekaterina Uksusnikova to cities on the 2013 tour in September and October. In each city the soloists audition young local dancers for roles that are exclusive to children and work with them in rehearsal. Gotta Dance, host dance studio, continued rehearsals for the NYC performacnes until dress rehearsal which is on stage with the full company. Since 1993 Moscow Ballet's "Dance with Us" program has benefitted young ballet students giving them the rare opportunity of auditioning, rehearsing, and performing with a professional and internationally touring ballet company. "Moscow Ballet offered a once in a lifetime experience. Not only was it exciting for my daughter but it was a growing experience which built her self-confidence and gave us the opportunity to relay the importance of personal commitment to a task." writes Amy from Danville VA 2012.For tickets call 800-745-3000 or go to www.nutcracker.com.

Gotta Dance challenges, trains and inspires to create professional young dancers. Helping a dancer find the perfect rhythm of the music and making art with their body is the goal. Dancers gain performance experience at the annual dance concert at Raritan Valley Community College. Advanced dancers are offered exceptional opportunities to perform in Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker . Challenging auditions are held for positions in the Dynamite Dance Team and Showstoppers Dance Company. Additionally, students are recognized and awarded for their excellence in National Dance Week Syllabus Exams. The studio offer specialized classes in ballet, jazz, hip-hop, preschool dance, Street Funk, tap, pointe, variations, partnering and modern.

Dance with Us includes carefully developed partnerships with ballet studios in each tour city, developed by Mary Giannone Talmi, co-producer of Moscow Ballet's North American tours. Studio owners offer students personal exposure to the highly trained Russian dancers and to the professional performance experience. Cathy Napolitano-Mucci, of Dance Center North in Syracuse NY, has hosted auditions since 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." In addition to Dance with Us, Talmi develops other educational programming providing a continuum of educational experiences. Since 2011 Moscow Ballet has presentedNew Horizons: A Children's Program for Life for all children, not just dancers, which addresses diet, exercise, and creative expression in youngsters through interactive experiences with Moscow Ballet dancers. Other programming includes 1984 "Cynthia Gregory Celebration Tour" with Just Say No campaign as its official message, and chaired by First Lady Nancy Reagan. Moscow Ballet's Russian-Cultural Ballet program was produced in nine museums and art institutions across the US and Cinderella Around the World dance and literacy program accompanied Moscow Ballet's 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.

Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker is comprised of award-winning principals and corps de ballet who perform Olympic-worthy leaps, lifts and pirouettes in the classic holiday ballet. To the delight of audiences of all ages, the artists bring humor, charm, athletic prowess and Russian flair to Tchaikovsky's timeless score. The ballet dramatizes the traditional story of Masha meeting her "Prince" and, exclusive to Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker, adds a tribute to world peace as well. The "Dove of Peace," for which 2 dancers become one bird with a 20 foot wingspan, escorts Masha and Prince to the "Land of Peace and Harmony" where ambassadors from Hispanic, African, Russian, Asian, and European heritages entertain and offer symbolic gifts in the form of playful silk puppets. The 2013 production includes 200 all new, hand-embellished costumes designed by Shakespearean expert Arthur Oliver and created in St Petersburg's oldest theatrical costume shop. Celebrate the beauty of the holidays and the best of Russian ballet in one grand production of Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker! www.nutcracker.com

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