Homer’s Nutcracker begins the 37th year of production and auditions will take place on Saturday August 23rd at the high school stage with various audition time brackets depending on student age or grade. Adults interested in performing or participating with the production crew also need to submit registration forms. More details on season responsibilities and audition forms are available on-line at www.homernutcrackerproductions.com. Homer’s 2025 Nutcracker is produced by Ken Castner with Artistic Director Sally Oberstein and Lead Choreographer Rhoslyn Jennings. Audition results will be posted The Nutcracker Ballet is adapted from a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann and premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1892. George Balanchine's 1954 production with the New York City Ballet is typically credited with popularizing the ballet in the United States.
Breezy Berryman’s Motivity spring production auditions will be held on Sunday, August 24th, upstairs at the Beluga Lake Lodge. Details on audition times can be found on the Motivity Dance School page via the FaceBook website. The 2026 spring performance will be based on Beatrix Potter’s collection of Peter Rabbit tales. This will be the fourth year of Berryman’s productions. The other themes have included: Dancing through Wonderland, Swan Lake and Thumbelina. Cheryl Tolman and Edmund Spenser will help Berryman with both classes and choreography for the spring production. Beatrix Potter, a British youth author, wrote the Peter Rabbit Tales, a collection of 23 books from 1902 to 1930, each with a primary animal character.
“Jen Norton, a long time ago, said, “Oh, hey, you should do this one sometime…” I had never really seen the ballet, and then I looked it up, the version of the Royal Balle. I was like, oh, that's really fun and neat with animals. And then I had the kids vote at the end of our last year's production. And it was half and half, they half picked this, and the other half picked Coppelia, which maybe we'll do some other year. But that one seemed a little more, I don't know, not as fun and springy to me. So we're excited about telling a new story.”
Berryman provided a longer personal introduction to KBBI:
“I grew up here, danced with my mom, who was our teacher, doing ballet since I was two years old, and went off to summer camps. I decided I really liked modern dance, and ended up transferring to NYU Tisch School of The Arts for dance, because I really got into that and choreography. I lived in New York City for 11 years, doing my own choreography and auditioning and dancing with different companies. I moved back to Homer and helped out with the Nutcracker a little bit more and have recently started this new motivity Dance School collaborative school and productions.”
