Dance Academy of Bartlett ballet students will perform alongside members of the Moscow Ballet tonight. They will be on stage as part of the “Great Russian Nutcracker” at 7 p.m. Nov. 29 at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, 255 N. Main St., Memphis.
Their roles are as party children, mice, snowflakes, snow maidens and more. All costumes are provided courtesy of the Moscow Ballet.
Student dancers for Act I include:
- Party Children: Emma Edwards, Malaiya Brantley, Zoe Pilcher, Charlotte Stanley, Ayla Miller, Calla Henton, Hannah Stanley, Elena Rodriguez, Catherine Coryat, Emma Gail Harris, Mariah Halley, Kenzie Jackson, Sarah-Kathleen Cousyn, Ruby Austin
Mice: Amber Sexton, Bella Wilson, Taylor Moore, Gia Abreu, Alexis Garrison, Lilly Galyean, Bella Saba, Ella Anderson, Caroline Ray, Ava Grace Carter, Mackenzie Wilkins, Olivia Cline, Delaney Crawford, Chloe Russell, Caroline Morrison, Amelia Miller - Snowflakes: Marcella Han, Addison DeWig, Payton Gibson, Taylor Lockhart, Addison Dillon, Chloe McCarthy, Juliet Hegwood, Amayah Purdy, Arden Belt, Julia Bogard
Snow Maidens: Willow Wilson, Megan Ammons, Mackenzie Koehler, Anna Kate Harris, Jenna Brodell, Alexis Bacon, Destyne Jones, Lyndsey Ellison
Student dancers for Act II include:
- Spanish Variation: Kate Dixon, Kayla Merritt
- Spanish Young: Kenzie Jackson, Zoe Pilcher
- Chinese Variation: Katye Baker, Olivia Jerden
- Chinese Young: Ruby Austin, Charlotte Stanley
- Russian Variation: Willow Wilson, Megan Ammons
- Russian Young: Malaiya Brantley, Emma Edwards
- French: Hannah Stanley, Calla Henton
- Arabian: Julia Howell-Moroney, Sydney Warren
The Dance Academy of Bartlett offers instruction in ballet, pointe, lyrical, jazz, tap, hip hop and tumbling. The studio has been under the ownership of Tracy Spencer Hannon since 1997. Students have performed on Carnival Cruise Lines, on college dance teams, as members of the halftime dance team during the Liberty Bowl, in numerous competitions and dance conventions and with the Moscow Ballet.
The event is part of the Moscow Ballet’s “Dance with Us” youth performance program, which has brought more than 75,000 Canadian and American ballet students on stage since 1993 to perform side-by side with the 40 professionals in cities on the tour. The aspiring ballerinas and danseurs, ages 7 to 17, perform in ancillary roles developed for their age and skill level by dancer, choreographer and Julliard graduate Mary Giannone Talmi, also co-producer of Moscow Ballet’s North American tours. Underwritten by Moscow Ballet, the program delivers Ballerina from the company, who also has experience teaching and working with youth, to each city to audition and rehearse the local dancers for several days, leaving the local Host Ballet Studio to rehearse the children for 6-8 weeks prior to the performance. For more information about the ballet, visit moscowballet.com.
