Wanna dance? Area youngsters invited to audition

Many of Jackie Robertson's 230 students are starting to get excited about auditioning to perform with the Moscow Ballet in "The Great Russian Nutcracker" at the Show Me Center. But some already know they're too young, too old or too big.

If you want to be one of the mice, angels, snow flakes, pages and party children in the Christmas classic this November, you must be 8 to 12 years old and no more than 5 feet 2 inches tall. That's because the ballet brings all the costumes and has a certain look in mice and angels they're after.

"My older students are disappointed," says Robertston, owner of Dance Extensions in Jackson. Auditions for parts in the production will be held Oct. 4 at Dance Extensions.

Although Dance Extensions will host the auditions and conduct the rehearsals, the parts will not be limited to the school's students. Robertson said the Moscow Ballet offered to close the auditions but she refused. "It's an honor for a studio to be selected, but I want it to be a community thing," she said.

Ballerina Rusudan Kvitisiani will be in Jackson to conduct the auditions and will oversee the first rehearsal the following day. Robertson will supervise the auditions every Saturday morning thereafter leading up to the performance on Nov. 18.

Fliers have been sent to dance studios in Cairo, Ill., Desloge, Mo., Chester, Ill., Sikeston, Mo. and Farmington, Mo. But dancers don't have to be associated with a school, Robertson says.

"The choreography is not difficult. If a girl of 11 or 12 danced when she was 8 years old, she could probably do the choreography."

Jo Ann Ruess, owner of the Academy of Dance Arts in Cape Girardeau, doesn't know whether any of her students plan to audition. She questions the value to her students of spending one night dancing with the ballet. 'It's like a token thing," she said.

Part of Ruess's misgivings stem from misinformation she received from the ballet company about how many children would be able to participate. Her understanding was that only six would. The actual number is about 60.

Participating in the Russian production would take time away from her students' own practices, Ruess says.

Robertson views the performance as a rare opportunity for her students to work with remarkable dancers.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182