Has Anyone's Child Participated in Washington Ballet Nutcracker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ummmm....usually, if your child is assigned a role, you accept it. with a glad heart. you don't turn it down bc it's not good enough.

Why? It's a huge commitment. Isn't paid. So if your child
Doesn't get a desired role, why do it?

[Anonymous]

My kid isn't a dancer, but an actor. I find this all fascinating bc my kid gets paid to appear in commercials and other theater shows after auditioning and getting selected. So this is odd to me, that it's a professional production with 1000s of people who attend, and brings in a ton of money (the tickets are expensive and it costs a family of 4 about $300+ to seentjr show). And yet these kids aren't getting compensated in any way. Parents don't even get free tickets to a show and have to pay several hundreds or dollars along with bringing their kids to rehearsals 3 days per week. And paying for the ballet classes.

What is the appeal here? My kid works and gets paid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ummmm....usually, if your child is assigned a role, you accept it. with a glad heart. you don't turn it down bc it's not good enough.

Why? It's a huge commitment. Isn't paid. So if your child
Doesn't get a desired role, why do it?

If a child auditions and then backs out because it wasn't the role she wanted, I can't imagine them ever wanting to cast her again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid isn't a dancer, but an actor. I find this all fascinating bc my kid gets paid to appear in commercials and other theater shows after auditioning and getting selected. So this is odd to me, that it's a professional production with 1000s of people who attend, and brings in a ton of money (the tickets are expensive and it costs a family of 4 about $300+ to seentjr show). And yet these kids aren't getting compensated in any way. Parents don't even get free tickets to a show and have to pay several hundreds or dollars along with bringing their kids to rehearsals 3 days per week. And paying for the ballet classes.

What is the appeal here? My kid works and gets paid!

Do you live in the DC area? My daughter loves to act in local theatre plays and be on stage for just about anything. If there are paid opportunities in the area, we would love to learn about them. thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid isn't a dancer, but an actor. I find this all fascinating bc my kid gets paid to appear in commercials and other theater shows after auditioning and getting selected. So this is odd to me, that it's a professional production with 1000s of people who attend, and brings in a ton of money (the tickets are expensive and it costs a family of 4 about $300+ to seentjr show). And yet these kids aren't getting compensated in any way. Parents don't even get free tickets to a show and have to pay several hundreds or dollars along with bringing their kids to rehearsals 3 days per week. And paying for the ballet classes.

What is the appeal here? My kid works and gets paid!

Do you live in the DC area? My daughter loves to act in local theatre plays and be on stage for just about anything. If there are paid opportunities in the area, we would love to learn about them. thanks

Yes we live in MD and there are definitely paid opportunities. Join backstage.com or dragonukconnects.com. My DC is in a local DC area paid theater production right now.

[Anonymous]

My DD has done it for the past 4 years and it is a huge comiitment for the entire family. Your child should not have auditioned if you are not sure of the commitment. There are rehearsals every weekend from now until Thansgiving as well as rehearsals a few days before Thanksgiving and performances Thanksgiving weekend. My DD loves performing in the show but last year she was in 2 casts and 12 shows. It was too much.

PPs are correct in the roles and levels. The majority of level 1As are snow angels with some cast as mice or cherry blossoms. 2A some are mice and soldiers along with snow angels. Level 2 is soldier and so on. Party scene is impossible to get unless you are a boy.

Overall if you can deal with the commitment it is a great experience. Moms get to volunteer backstage which is also fun.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Results are up!

[Anonymous]

Results are up!

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks everyone for the feedback. DD got cast so I guess we are in for it. I can't wait to tell her in the morning! She will be a cherry blossom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks everyone for the feedback. DD got cast so I guess we are in for it. I can't wait to tell her in the morning! She will be a cherry blossom.

Congrats OP! DD is a snow angel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ummmm....usually, if your child is assigned a role, you accept it. with a glad heart. you don't turn it down bc it's not good enough.

Why? It's a huge commitment. Isn't paid. So if your child
Doesn't get a desired role, why do it?

Because the child just enjoys the experience?

Because the child learns that others are depending on everyone to keep the commitment and be there, even those in the smallest roles?

Because the child gets to see a professional production up close and that might simply be fun? Or a kid who loves dance and might learn whether he or she really wants to keep doing dance whatever the role?

It's also a huge unpaid commitment when kids do certain sports. Nobody's paying those intense youth and teen athletes. Should they also not do anything for which they don't get paid? Or for which there's no real shot at a college sport scholarship? If they simply like a sport, or dance, or playing an instrument, or doing math or science competitions or any other activity--should they dump it if they're not stars at it and/or it doesn't hold out the chance to make money now or later?

You'll whine that "this is a professional show and that's different from a local dance studio or kids' sports, so they should be paid" etc. You don't know much about professional dance. A show like Nutcracker makes money but it's all too often THE moneymaker for many professional companies and often has to make enough to subsidize the rest of a season. The Washington Ballet often can't afford a live orchestra for Nut; do you think they have money for all the kids? The professional dancers do not make huge pay. And most of them as kids were doing things like appearing, unpaid, in herds of children in shows like this one. It's done for the experience. The terms are very clear from the start.

[Anonymous]

Do they ever have live orchestra for nutcracker? I saw it a few years ago and was disappointed that it was a recording.

Just out of curiosity, what share of kids who audition get cast? How many years dancing classes do they usually have under their belt? Or is it more about being able to follow directions for the basic kid roles?

- mom who could see dd asking to do this in a few years but currently only has dance at school aftercare

[Anonymous]

Do the kids still continue their regular classes and rehearsals at their regular ballet schools, while doing this? I don't see how the time commitments would work out. My daughter is 10 and dances at Classical Ballet Theatre. She already has dance classes four nights a week, 6:30-8:00 pm, and then two classes on Saturdays: 9:00-10:30 and then 11:00-12:30. On top of that, they are preparing for their own Nutcracker which is the weekend after Thanksgiving at the Ernst Theater at the NOVA Annandale campus, so she is usually doing ballet all day Saturday until about 5 pm. (Granted, since our Nutcracker is Thanksgiving weekend, things calm down after that. We just have the regular class schedule.) But, I assume most good dancers have a similar schedule wherever they take lessons. How are they finding time to do Washington Ballet Nutcracker too? Can someone please explain the logistics to me? (?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the kids still continue their regular classes and rehearsals at their regular ballet schools, while doing this? I don't see how the time commitments would work out. My daughter is 10 and dances at Classical Ballet Theatre. She already has dance classes four nights a week, 6:30-8:00 pm, and then two classes on Saturdays: 9:00-10:30 and then 11:00-12:30. On top of that, they are preparing for their own Nutcracker which is the weekend after Thanksgiving at the Ernst Theater at the NOVA Annandale campus, so she is usually doing ballet all day Saturday until about 5 pm. (Granted, since our Nutcracker is Thanksgiving weekend, things calm down after that. We just have the regular class schedule.) But, I assume most good dancers have a similar schedule wherever they take lessons. How are they finding time to do Washington Ballet Nutcracker too? Can someone please explain the logistics to me? (?)

We are new to this, but I believe all the kids who audition are from the Washington school of ballet. The rehearsals are on weekends (usually in the afternoon) and don't conflict with the classes which are during the week or Saturday morning. The kids in ballet 1A and 1B have class twice a week. If one of those classes is on Saturday, then they only have three days of ballet total with both class and rehearsal on Saturdays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the kids still continue their regular classes and rehearsals at their regular ballet schools, while doing this? I don't see how the time commitments would work out. My daughter is 10 and dances at Classical Ballet Theatre. She already has dance classes four nights a week, 6:30-8:00 pm, and then two classes on Saturdays: 9:00-10:30 and then 11:00-12:30. On top of that, they are preparing for their own Nutcracker which is the weekend after Thanksgiving at the Ernst Theater at the NOVA Annandale campus, so she is usually doing ballet all day Saturday until about 5 pm. (Granted, since our Nutcracker is Thanksgiving weekend, things calm down after that. We just have the regular class schedule.) But, I assume most good dancers have a similar schedule wherever they take lessons. How are they finding time to do Washington Ballet Nutcracker too? Can someone please explain the logistics to me? (?)

We are new to this, but I believe all the kids who audition are from the Washington school of ballet. The rehearsals are on weekends (usually in the afternoon) and don't conflict with the classes which are during the week or Saturday morning. The kids in ballet 1A and 1B have class twice a week. If one of those classes is on Saturday, then they only have three days of ballet total with both class and rehearsal on Saturdays.

Ohhhhh, I get it. Thanks. So, all the kids are from Washington School of Ballet. . .they are not from any other ballet schools. . .got it! Thanks for clarifying for me!