How do you get to dance in The Nutcracker?

[Isabella]

The other day my daughter asked how you get to dance in The Nutcracker and my answer at the time was ‘hard work’ but actually how do you get to be part of it? Do you need to be spotted? Are you called to audition? She auditioned this year for RBS but didn’t get in so is that door shut already? 

[Stellar]

The children in the nutcracker are at White Lodge (RB lower school) in normal circumstances years 7, 8&9 all take part. The Royal Ballet  (and most touring companies) will use students from there or RB junior associates depending on age required for productions 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Stellar

[Isabella]

Oh dear, so she might have missed the boat. Thank

you for the information x

[sunrise81]

Yep the ones in BRB Nutcracker are students of Elmhurst too (yr 7 and 8, as well.as using the EBC for some of the other roles)

[Bunny]

The Birmingham Royal Ballet also do a production at The Royal Albert Hall as well as the one at The Hippodrome. For the RAH productions, they usually hold open auditions to play the party children/rats. My DS was successful last year and absolutely loved it. Auditions were in the first two weeks of October and rehersals started on the 30th of October so only a few weeks notice which was a bit challenging as we are in the North East so quite a way from both Birmingham and London. However, it was an incredible experience for both of us and he was devastated that he wasn’t able to audition again for this year due to no auditions because of Covid and of course the production being cancelled  in the end. They take children from Y5, Y6 and Y7 so it will depend on how old your daughter is as to if she is able to audition. Hopefully things will be back to normal next year and they will audition more children! We would highly recommend and couldn’t praise BRB enough for how amazing they were with the kids.

Edited December 27, 2020 by Bunny

[glowlight]

Aside from professional productions which use children, it would be worth looking out for performance opportunities with Youth ballet companies.

 

English Youth Ballet and National Youth Ballet spring to mind.  I think there are some regional youth performance companies as well.

 

My dd's local dance school also used to put on a full scale production once every two years - so she got to be in The Nutcracker twice with them.

 

 

[Ms Sunshine]

Elmhurst Young dancers get looked at for Birmingham Royal Ballet Nutcracker x

[meadowblythe]

 

I don't know how old your daughter is but don't forget ... if she doesn't get to dance in the Nutcracker as a child, it doesn't mean that she won't when she is older -

 

I suspect  there is no strong correlation between those in productions as children (even JAs and the like) and those who dance it as adults in professional or semi-professional companies.

 

[BallerinaMum13]

I was wondering if anyone might know what happened to the BRB children's auditions for the Nutcracker at Royal Albert Hall. They seem to have stopped circa 2020 or there is just no information available online? 

[Beezie]

Oh, how I wish there were more Nutcrackers out there for children participation!  We SO miss that aspect of the US - amateur Nutcrackers at quite a few studios.  It ranks up there as top-3 lifetime memories for my daughter!

[Millicent]

I think BRB use London JAs for their Royal Albert Hall Nutcracker. 

[Dancing unicorn]

When Dd was at Elmhurst yr7, they used JA’s for BRB as all yr 7’s were too tall 🤣

Edited August 24, 2023 by Dancing unicorn

[The red shoes]

They always used JA’s and YD’s from Elmhurst however the year my dad did it in 2019  they did an open audition and nearly 500 hundred rocked up to the auditions! They should do that every year !

[Laburnum1]

My daughter was in Northern Ballets touring production of the nutcracker last year , Northern Ballet auditioned children from her ballet school which was in the town they were performing , different children performed in each tour venue , it was quite a long process auditions around feb performances Nov , it was a lovely experience She did 6 performances and loved every minute.

[akh]

4 hours ago, Laburnum1 said:

My daughter was in Northern Ballets touring production of the nutcracker last year , Northern Ballet auditioned children from her ballet school which was in the town they were performing , different children performed in each tour venue , it was quite a long process auditions around feb performances Nov , it was a lovely experience She did 6 performances and loved every minute.

 

4 hours ago, Laburnum1 said:

My daughter was in Northern Ballets touring production of the nutcracker last year , Northern Ballet auditioned children from her ballet school which was in the town they were performing , different children performed in each tour venue , it was quite a long process auditions around feb performances Nov , it was a lovely experience She did 6 performances and loved every minute.

My granddaughter also danced with Northern Ballet a few years back and had a wonderful experience

[Peanut68]

ENB use Tring pupils for children/rats in their Nutcracker. They base on height so could be from Prep department up to school year 9 (even 10!) if below height limit they look for. They have used sone from Tring Park Associates too (the Saturday/evening ballet classes - most likely boys as these are in shorter supply in main school)

Older ENBS students are used in I think snowflakes/flower waltz scenes. 

Brecon Festival Ballet are doing a Nutcracker in Wales with a mix of professional & local dancers….

[Sophoife]

On 25/08/2023 at 05:58, The red shoes said:

They always used JA’s and YD’s from Elmhurst however the year my dad did it in 2019  they did an open audition and nearly 500 hundred rocked up to the auditions! They should do that every year !

 

🏆 Typo of the day albeit a few days late! Thank you! (my emphasis in the quote)

 

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by Sophoife
Clarified that emphasis was mine.