American Repertory Ballet Selects Rahway Students to Perform in NUTCRACKER

American Repertory Ballet, New Jersey's top professional ballet company, will return to Rahway, NJ this year with two performances of Nutcracker at Union County Performing Arts Center. To further connect with the Rahway community, American Repertory Ballet recently held auditions for local Rahway children in grades K-2 to perform alongside its professional dancers in Nutcracker on Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November 22 at 2:00pm.

On Saturday, October 3, 2015, twelve children auditioned for the role of the mice in ARB's Nutcracker. The mice take part in the famous battle scene in the ballet, where the main character Clara dreams that tiny mice in her living room grow giant and take on the army of toy soldiers and the Nutcracker prince.

The six children that were selected to perform as this year's Nutcracker Community Mice are: Madison Ferreira (1st Grade) and Elisha Mena (2nd Grade) from Franklin School, Raquelle Reinoso (K) from Madison School, Kyra Jones (K) and Evan Martin (2nd Grade) from Roosevelt School, and Anastasia Rachinsky (1st Grade) from St. John Vianney.

The mission of American Repertory Ballet (ARB) is "to bring the joy, beauty, artistry and discipline of classical and contemporary dance to New Jersey and nationwide audiences through public performances and to dance students through artistic and educational programs." This year's "Community Mice Initiative" aims at fulfilling this mission in an immersive way that will expose children to a professional environment and challenge them to achieve performance goals.

"We are thrilled to bring this opportunity to the children of Rahway," says Lisa Beth Vettoso, Director of Educational and Community Programming. "Rahway is an incredibly supportive and artistic community, and the 'Community Mice Initiative' offers local children not only an exciting performance opportunity, but also a wonderful, immersive learning experience with role models in the arts."

Rahway Community Mice rehearsals begin Saturday, October 10, 2015.

In a continuing effort to reach all types of audiences, ARB will also offer its first Sensory Friendly performance of Nutcracker on Sunday, November 22 at 1:00pm at UCPAC. Eden Autism Services is pleased to partner with the American Repertory Ballet in its efforts to make the thrill of professional ballet and live dance accessible for individuals with autism. For more information about Eden Autism Services visit www.edenautism.org or call 609.987.0099

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