Dance Students to join Cast For Group of Seven Nutcracker Performance at Centre in the square

KITCHENER - Ballet Jörgen Canada is pleased to announce that the company will be holding auditions for the 2009-2010 winter tour of the Group of Seven Nutcracker. Young dancers aged 8 to 18 are invited to open auditions in each of the 12 performance locales across Ontario to earn a role in either their local performances, or to join the youth touring cast.

Continuing in the well-established tradition of education and outreach, Ballet Jörgen Canada’s Group of Seven Nutcracker Youth Outreach Program gives young aspiring dancers the opportunity to participate on stage with a professional dance company. The cast members interact with and learn from professional dance artists while gaining invaluable performance experience in the production. Last year, 142 youth participated in the program.

From September through October, auditions will be held at local dance schools and theatres throughout Ontario, with 12 to 18 cast members selected from each performance locale, including Toronto, Brampton, Brantford, Guelph, Huntsville, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, Markham, Mississauga, Ottawa, Peterborough and Sarnia. Touring cast roles include Klara, the Nutcracker Prince and Community Children, while the local roles are for Chipmunks, Squirrels, Dragonflies, Beavers, White-Tailed Deer, Frogs, a Sock Bunny and a Bear Cub.

Kitchener-Waterloo Auditions take place Sunday, September 20 @ 10:30 - 2:30pm at the Carousel Dance Centre... http://www.carouseldancecentre.ca/

“I have been dancing since I was three years old and the opportunity to be a small part of the Nutcracker is the highlight of all my years of taking ballet. It was fantastic watching such great dancers up close and this will be an experience I will never forget,” said Karli Mazzer of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Ballet Jörgen Canada premiered the Group of Seven Nutcracker, a new Canadian version of the holiday classic, in the 2008-2009 season to overwhelming public praise and critical acclaim. The Group of Seven Nutcracker is a quintessential Canadian work, a national treasure that will warm the hearts of young and old alike. Born from collaboration with Kleinburg’s world-renowned McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the production features backdrops from Canadian 20th Century landscape artists Franklin Carmichael, Tom Thomson and L.L FitzGerald. From a wintery schoolhouse in Bisset, Ontario in 1912, to the lush summer wetlands of Ontario’s Algonquin Park, audiences are taken on a grand journey with Klara as she experiences for the first time, Canadian landscapes filled with snowflakes, Mounties, and charming woodland creatures.

The Group of Seven Nutcracker Youth Outreach Program is generously supported by Scotiabank and George Weston Ltd. Local support includes The Davies Charitable Foundation in Kingston and the Audrey S. Hellyer Charitable Foundation in Mississauga. For more detailed audition information, please see the addendum with the complete audition schedule, or visit the website at www.balletjorgencanada.ca.

Widely recognized for its innovation, warmth, humor and beauty, Ballet Jörgen Canada is the only major Canadian ballet company with a repertoire exclusively of original works. With over two decades of innovation in creating opportunities for Canadian choreographers and engagement with communities in outreach and educational activities, Ballet Jörgen Canada remains true to the vision of its founders, Bengt Jörgen and Susan Bodie. Ballet Jörgen Canada’s educational activities range from its long-time collaboration with George Brown College in Toronto to elementary school programming that brings ballet to children across the country. In addition, Ballet Jörgen Canada’s annual touring brings ballet performances to over 50,000 people from coast to coast in Canada and northern USA, sharing the experience of ballet with more communities in Canada than any other dance company. With a ‘hub’ in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and centres in Ottawa and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ballet Jörgen Canada is truly Canada’s local ballet company.