The day following auditions is when all the dancers who auditioned come to Dance Studio 111 to see the reveal of the entire cast. Besides the soloist who woke up to their yard sign, this is the first time all the ballerinas will find out which part or parts they are in. Our tradition is to have the cast list posted on the windows outside of the studio however with the 115 degree heat this year we moved the cast reveal inside the studio. Dancers, parents, grandparents all ran into the studio to see which part each dancer was cast in. It was a time of happiness and excitement and some little ballerinas took time to make snow angels in our fake snow and were yelling out “CLARA! CLARA! CLARA!” Lots of tears of joy and hugs and a few disappointments and encouragement all wrapped together! One of our traditions is for the previous year Clara and Sugarplum Fairy to pass on their crowns to the newly cast Clara and Sugarplum Fairy. Everyone in attendance forms a long tunnel for the previous Clara and Sugarplum to walk through one last time to pass their crowns. Once the crowns have been past to the new Clara and Sugarplum Fairy our cast is officially set!
Immediately following the Cast Reveal, Kimberly Lewis takes the ten Queens along with Clara and her two best friends to a Royal Queens Brunch for some cast bonding time. This is a time when Clara gets to bond with the two dancers who will dance next to her in the party scene and for all the Queens to celebrate becoming Nutcracker Royalty
The cast reveal and Queens Brunch are a favorite tradition of the cast of the Ahwatukee Foothills Nutcracker Ballet…..