By Morgan Taylor, Reporter
TULSA, Oklahoma – On May 24-26 and July 18, the Tulsa Ballet will hold open auditions for local children ages 6-17 for a brand new production of The Nutcracker.
Auditions will take place at the Tulsa Ballet’s Brookside Campus with safety protocols in effect.
Preregistration is required along with a $15 fee per child for auditions. Students can preregister until the day of auditions.
The new production will make its World Premiere at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center on Dec. 10-23.
Students will have the opportunity to audition for over 100 available roles including baby mice, toy soldiers, baby hawks and hawk angels, party children, plum pudding cupcakes and Fritz. With the new production comes new costumes, sets and choreography.
“From the beginning of the process,” says Artistic Director Marcello Angelini. “The new Nutcracker was envisioned and engineered to provide plenty of roles for our community’s young dancers.”
According to Angelini the process is designed to be inclusion.
“In fact, during the planning process, we made sure we had every age, from six to seventeen, covered in the casting,” Angelini said. “ I believe the interaction between the professional company and young, aspiring dancers in the community is an essential function of any Nutcracker.”
“This collaboration fulfills a vital role in the mission of our organization, that of inspiring awareness for the arts, and appreciation for dance, for future generations of dancers, dance lovers and theater goers.”
According to Tulsa Ballet Center Marketing Manager Bethany Kirby, there are currently around 100 students that have preregistered but no roles have been filled yet.
Kirby said the Tulsa Ballet has many Native students try out for their productions.
“We typically reach out to these organizations through our Center for Dance Education,” Kirby said. “It the part of our organization that reaches out to other organizations like that (Muscogee Nation) for performances.”
The pandemic has changed things somewhat for this upcoming production.
“This year is going to be pretty different because of social distancing and protocols,” Kirby said. “Even though the mask mandate has lifted we are still going to be requiring safety protocols.”
“In the past we have had an open audition but the preregistration helps us monitor how many auditions we will have and allows us to create time slots so we can create more distance.”
There is an orientation for parents and guardians that is required.
She said, “We will begin rehearsals in July, typically we begin those a lot closer to time but since this is a completely different production then the last 15 years with a lot more roles than in the past the choreographer will come in early to start working with the children.”
Kirby said Tulsa Ballet Center does encourage those students without a ballet background who have wanted to try it to come audition.
“This is a great opportunity for anyone who has wanted to try ballet, they are going to be working with professional artists of Tulsa Ballet.”
“This could absolutely open opportunities for some”
Call (918) 749-6030 or visit https://tulsaballet.org/classes/the-nutcracker-auditions/ for more information.
