Rare chance for southern dancers
‘‘I’m so excited, I can’t wait . . . this is the real deal.’’
Those were the comments of Abbey Dermody to news of being chosen to play a part in the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s performance of The Nutcracker in Invercargill on November 14.
She and 29 other children, aged from 9 to 16, in Southland or Queenstown were selected after auditioning earlier this year.
‘‘I was speechless [when I found out], I couldn’t believe it,’’ Abbey, 13, said.
She is one of four from Shelley E Coutts Dance Academy to be chosen, while other southern dance schools with students selected are Ainge School of Dance, Fuel Fitness and Health, Jazz Time, La Muse and Wakatipu Conservatoire of Classical Ballet.
Tutor Shelley Coutts suspects the roles of the 30 young dancers in The Nutcracker will be as party guests in the Christmas Eve scene.
Royal New Zealand Ballet masters will be in Invercargill on October 2-3 to train the dancers and provide them and their teachers with practise programmes to do leading up to the concert in the Civic Theatre.
The whole cast for The Nutcracker will start rehearsals two days before the concert.
Coutts said the young dancers would learned a lot from the experience and be expected to work hard in practise and rehearsals to perfect their roles.
‘‘The opportunity to dance in the story of The Nutcracker is everyone’s dream come true.
‘‘They will thoroughly enjoy it, it’s the chance of a lifetime.’’
Coutts expects a large audience for The Nutcracker, which is based on a family’s Christmas Eve celebrations.
Invercargill will be one of many towns and cities to hold the concert from October 31 to December 15. More than 200 dancers were selected from the 665 hopefuls that auditioned throughout the country.