Parents, please see our Last Minute Reminders! Each Christmas season, the Claire School of Dance performs The Nutcracker... with a twist! Our New York Nutcracker takes the music from Tchaikovsky’s holiday classic, adds a dash of the swinging Duke Ellington and a hint of Ella Fitzgerald, and mixes in the sass (and color scheme!) of Eloise at Christmastime. Our 10th Annual New York Nutcracker will be performed at 2PM on Sunday December 11th at St. John's School. (St. John's is at Buffalo Speedway at Westheimer, and we're in the Lowe Theater, building 'K' on the campus map. Look for the banner at the parking lot gate.) What Parents Need to Know: All students enrolled at the Claire School of Dance at the primary level or higher are given roles to perform in the New York Nutcracker. Participation is on an “opt out” basis. Parents must notify the office via email or written communication by October 17th if they do not wish their child to participate. Failure to notify the office that a child is “opting out” may result in the assessment of the performance fee. There will be a $125 performance fee for each performer. ($150, if student does a second dance.) This helps cover the cost of costumes and other performance expenses. Each child receives two free tickets as part of her performance fee. No child will be denied the opportunity to perform due to lack of funds. A scholarship fund is available to help cover the cost of the performance fee. Scholarship requests should be made by October 17th. Payment of the performance fee is due by October 17th. Costumes remain the property of the Claire School of Dance. In order to respect the time of parents, most rehearsals will take place during regular class times. There will be one general run-through rehearsal Saturday the 10th, the day before the performance, at our Grace United studio. ALL performers MUST be present at this rehearsal as it will be the only time all performers rehearse together. The general run-through rehearsal will take place 12:30 to 2:30pm at the Claire School of Dance Grace United studio, 13th & Heights Blvd. Tickets, t-shirts and DVDs: Tickets are $5 for children and $10 for adults. Ticket sign-up sheets will be posted in the waiting rooms at Grace and Lambert November 1st. Tickets may also be ordered by email. Tickets may be picked up at the run-through rehearsal December 10th or at the door beginning one hour before the performance. T-shirts are $20. Order sheets will be placed in each waiting room. All orders must be placed by November 1st. T-shirt orders may also be picked up at the run-through rehearsal December 10th. DVDs are $25. Orders must be placed by December 12th. On the day of the show: Parents leave their children at the theatre 9:30am Sunday morning, with a bag lunch. Dress rehearsal will start at 10:30am. All children will be under adult supervision at all times. Children are welcome to bring books and crayons. The performance starts at 2:00pm and runs 45 minutes. St. John’s Theatre has 600 seats – plenty of room for all your friends. We look forward to another wonderful Nutcracker!!