Contacts: Yukari Thiesen, Kathryn McDougal Artistic Director Marketing 559-432-0155 559-440-9973 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 8, 2018 Auditions for Fresno Ballet Theatre’s Production of “The Nutcracker” set for June 24 Open auditions for over 100 student roles in Fresno Ballet Theatre’s 2018 production of “The Nutcracker” sponsored by Valley Performing Arts Council, will be held June 24 from 12:00 to 5:30 p.m. in the dance studio of the music building at California State University, Fresno. Roles are available for male and female dance, gymnastics, and drama and cheer students of all experience levels, ages 5 and up. Many roles do not require any dance experience Auditions are divided into five categories based on height and dance experience. Specific audition times for each role and category of dancers is available at www.valleyperformingartscouncil.org, and Facebook. To participate in auditions, children must be 5 years old by September 1, 2018. Dancers may audition for more than one part; audition results will be announced on the same day as auditions. Parent meetings will also be held on audition day. Performances of VPAC’s “The Nutcracker” with the vibrant and innovative State Street Ballet of Santa Barbra are scheduled for November 23 at 1:00 pm and 6 p.m. at the William Saroyan Theatre. Student performers will be on stage alongside professional dancers including Australian Aaron Smyth who will appear as the “Snow Cavalier,” opposite Misty Copeland in Disney’s upcoming feature film “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” to be released in November 2018. Smyth has been a company member with the American Ballet Theatre II in New York, The Royal Ballet in London and The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago where he danced soloist and principal roles. He now travels the globe as a principal guest artist. He has also won numerous medals in international ballet competitions and is the founding director of Dance For Humanity and wellness house EC1 Studios in London. Students accepted to perform in the “The Nutcracker” will be eligible to perform in a March production of “The Jungle Book”. # # # About Valley Performing Arts Council: Established in 1997, VPAC's mission is to expose children to the beauty, wisdom and truth that the classical arts impart and to enable them to share this cultural knowledge with future generations. VPAC works to cultivate classical performing arts by bringing professional ballet to Fresno in order to expose local dancers and school children to a high caliber of ballet and classical music, thus creating a greater understanding of the classical performing arts. To date, VPAC has exposed more than 155,000 students in 25 school districts throughout the Valley to numerous ballet, theater and musical performances. VPAC also partners with Fresno county Office of Education, Fresno Unified School District and Central Unified School District to provide classical ballet classes and a team of professional ballet educators as artists-in-residence to elementary schools.