El Paso dancers ages 6 through 17 have a shot at sharing a stage with an international ballet cast this holiday season. Auditions for NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet are set for Oct. 24, with the touring production scheduled to perform Dec. 23 and 24 at the Plaza Theatre downtown.
The tryouts are being organized through the production's Dance with Us program, as reported by Erika Esquivel for KFOX14/CBS4. The local host studio is For the Love of Dance, located at 7930 N. Mesa Street under studio director Jenny Pearce, according to Nutcracker.com. Auditions are split by age group, with dancers 6 to 11 trying out at 10 a.m. and dancers 12 to 18 at 11 a.m.
Company soloists from the touring production will lead the auditions and direct the first rehearsals, KDBC reports. Families can register for tryouts at nutcracker.com/dance, and those who land a spot will rehearse for six to eight weeks at the studio before taking the stage alongside the professional touring cast.
Roles, Costumes, and a $50 Fee
Selected dancers may be cast as party children, mice, little snowflakes, star sprites, star maidens, or members of the junior corps de ballet, per the station's report. The production supplies costumes and charges no instruction fee, but families must pay a minimum $50 participation fee that helps cover costume maintenance and related administrative costs, the same account notes.
The roughly 12-hour rehearsal commitment stretches across six to eight weeks, and dancers may miss one rehearsal with a written excuse and notice; missed rehearsals without notice may lead to removal from the cast, according to Nutcracker.com. The Dance with Us program says it has enriched more than 75,000 American children, while the 34th-anniversary tour visits more than 80 cities.
An International Cast With a Peace Theme
El Paso's young performers will share the stage with principal dancers from Ukrainian opera houses as well as artists from Japan, Italy, Turkey, and other countries, KDBC reports. The production's international makeup traces back to 2022, when producer Talmi Entertainment renamed its flagship touring show from Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker to NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, as detailed by the Lehigh Valley Press.
The production features a Dove of Peace adagio, according to materials from the Bojangles Coliseum run of the tour. The broader production features elaborate stagecraft, including 10-foot-tall puppets and nine hand-painted backdrops, per Discover Kalamazoo. The 34th annual tour travels to more than 80 North American cities each November and December and draws over 250,000 audience members annually.
A Historic Downtown Stage
A Downtown Stage The performances land at the Plaza Theatre. Its main Kendall Kidd Performance Hall seats 2,050 and recently helped anchor a citywide streak of nine sold-out entertainment events, most at downtown venues, that generated more than $1.49 million in ticket sales in the first quarter of 2026, as Hoodline previously reported.
Tickets and additional information on the touring production are available at nutcracker.com.
