Auditions: Nutcracker
Saturday, September 20, the Asheville Ballet, North Carolina’s oldest non-profit ballet company, will hold Nutcracker Auditions at the studio at 4 Weaverville Hwy, Asheville, NC 28804. Parts are available for all dancers from all regional studios for ages 4 to senior adults.
12:30-2:45 Ms. Allison’s Ballet and Pointe classes – if you are a 7th or 8th Grader and wish to audition en pointe, please attend these as well as the 3:15 Audition slot.
2:45pm ages 4 – Second Grade
3:00pm Third – Fifth Grade
3:15pm Sixth – Eighth Grade. If you are younger than 9th Grade, but wish to audition en pointe, please attend the 12:30 Ballet, 2:00 Pointe, AND the 3:15 portion of the audition.
3:45pm Everyone Ninth Grade – senior adult (including all intermediate advanced teens and adults and all professionals, plus all dancers 9th Grade and up auditioning for Pointe roles). Auditions will begin with a Ballet technique class (if you are a beginner, and unsure, email us to ask advice). Adult dancers auditioning only for Party Parent need not attend the audition, but should fill out an audition form.
4:45pm-6:45pm Everyone Ninth Grade – senior adult will stay for auditions for various Modern, Contemporary, and Ballet roles and for adult roles. Auditions for Pointe roles will likely occur at the very end of the audition.
Please fill out the audition form in advance of the audition: https://forms.gle/eRvdKsQvS2gec1W78 (Even if you have to leave measurement info blank and send us a follow-up email once you know it, you should submit your audition form as early as you can, to facilitate the info going to every artistic team member in advance.)
Audition fee is $10, payable via cash or check to The Asheville Ballet.
Please note that the auditions will be filmed so that material may be reviewed by the artistic team.
Casting will likely be announced around Wednesday, September 24th, and rehearsals begin as early as Friday, September 26th, for some roles. Please note that females may be cast as male characters.
All performers must be taking at least two technique classes per week, at any studio, at least one of which should be Ballet (dancers ages 4-9 may take a single weekly class; for dancers age 7-9, it should be Ballet). If you’d like to enroll for classes at Asheville Academy of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, visit our Training page.
Please plan to arrive a bit early to find parking. You may park across the street at Newbridge Tire, or up the hill at the YMCA. Please wash your hands and remove your street shoes before going into the studio. Parents of 4 to 8-year-olds may wait in the lobby if your child would feel more comfortable that way, and parents of 4 to 6-year-olds may come into the studio if your little one looks like they need you. The audition is closed to any other observers, but family members may come inside to use the restrooms.
Remember, fill out your audition form in advance of the audition date: https://forms.gle/eRvdKsQvS2gec1W78
For more information contact us.
The Nutcracker will be held at Diana Wortham Theatre at the Wortham Center December 11th - 14th (Thursday 9:30am school show, Friday and Saturday evening shows, Saturday and Sunday matinees).
Regularly scheduled rehearsals begin as early as September 26 and run Fridays between 4:00-9:00pm and/or Saturdays between 2:45-8:45pm (plan on possibly both), and will include some Sunday afternoon rehearsals for certain parts (eg. Waltz of the Flowers). Mandatory rehearsals include tech week Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Dec 8th, 9th, and 10th, from 4:00-8:00pm, plus studio dress rehearsal weekend (Friday, Dec 5th, Saturday, Dec 6th), as well as some Sundays, including November 23, November 30, and December 7. (See our Nutcracker contract for more details; youngest dancers are usually dismissed by 7pm and do not have long rehearsals until two weeks before showtime.)
General audition info
The Asheville Ballet auditions dancers on a show-to-show basis and often invites selected performers to continue performing in future productions throughout the year. We offer a number of paid adult professional dancing positions as well as college apprenticeships.
Please email us with any questions. We also accept emailed video/headshot/dance shot/resume submissions to dance@ashevilleballet.com. We will review your material and contact you promptly!
In addition, students from both the Academy of Ballet and Contemporary Dance as well as other studios in the Western North Carolina region are cast both in ensemble and soloists roles in our productions. In other words, you do not have to be a student attending classes with the Academy of Ballet and Contemporary Dance to perform with us. We are delighted to include the entire community in their passion to perform, both professional and student alike. All that we ask is that students are taking at least two dance technique classes per week, somewhere, in order to maintain the high-caliber of artistry for which we have become known.