Moscow Ballet Soloist Delights, Inspires Children At Hospital

DETROIT (WWJ) - As many as 60 local children, ages 7-to-14, will have an opportunity to dance with the Moscow Ballet when it performs the holiday classic The Nutcracker in December.

WWJ Newsradio 950 spoke with Ballerina Carolina Siscanu while she visited Children's Hospital of Michigan Wednesday.

Siscanu, dressed in full costume,  spent time with some of the children, talking about dance and music during her visit.

"... we'll have mice, we'll have snowflakes, Russian dance, Spanish dance, Chinese ... a lot of things," said Siscanu about the Nutcracker.

Auditions for the Nutcracker performance were held at the Andrea Redmond Dance Academy in Shelby Township and Siscanu said they looked for children with certain characteristics ...

"I'm looking for a lot of emotions ... for people who are relaxed, like they want to dance, like every time they wanted to be on stage to have courage and to not be scared,"Siscanu said.

A portion of proceeds from Great Russian Nutcracker tickets sold to Sun, Dec 22, 5:00 p.m. performance at the Fox Theatre goes to the hospital's Foundation.