Thanks to the Moscow Ballet’s innovative Dance With Us program, which casts student dancers as extras in a major performance, Forest Lake area dancers will be dancing alongside talents in a Russian rendition of “The Nutcracker” this holiday season. Dancers will take the stage at 7 p.m. Nov. 26 at the Orpheum Theater located at 910 Hennepin Ave. in Minneapolis. The traveling Moscow Ballet company, now in its 24th season, includes award-winning principal dancers and, in total, a corps of about 40 dancers.
Moscow Ballet audition directors, who are also dancers in the company, travel the United States each fall before the Nutcracker tour to personally audition and rehearse aspiring student dancers. The Dance With Us program provides dancers age 7 to 17 the experience of participating in real auditions, with an opportunity to be cast, rehearse, be costumed with the company, and take the stage alongside professional dancers for a