Wade Robson

Boys wear tights and a shirt or tunic. Their costumes must not get in the way when they dance the big allegro steps or when they dance in a pas de deux. Some ballets have parts for children to dance. Joe is excited because he has been chosen to dance in The Nutcracker with the English National Ballet. Joe has a main role (part) as Freddie, sometimes called Fritz.

 

He leads the children’s dance in the party scene with Clara, his sister in the story. Joe loves rehearsing and performing on stage with the older dancers because he hopes that one day he will also be a professional dancer. Maddie will rehearse her pirouettes en pointe many times before she dances on stage. After ballet school, most young dancers hope to become professionals and join a ballet company. It takes a lot of hard work but, if you love to dance, it is the best job you could have.

 

Dancers in a company start each day with a ballet class to prepare their bodies. Then they spend the day rehearsing different ballets before putting on costumes and makeup to perform for an audience. There is usually a pianist to play music for class and rehearsals. Sometimes the dancers perform to music played by an orchestra.