Every year, we put together a full-length story production involving all of our students who wish to be in the show, from pre-school to adult. We use sets, backdrops, special effects, intelligent lights, and beautiful costumes to create an amazing show each spring. Our past productions include Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, The Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, and many other great stories.
We feel this is a wonderful experience for dancers of all ages as they feel part of a real show. Our dancers are given characters in each show: for example fairies in Peter Pan or tea cups in Beauty and the Beast. They can tell their friends and family, “I am a fairy in Never Never Land,” rather than “I am in my dance recital.”
We do not charge an additional performance fee or any other additional charge for dancers to participate in the annual production. Dancers pay for or rent their costumes only. We keep the price of tickets affordable so families can easily attend to see their dancer, and tickets are sold directly through the Palace Theatre so that every family can choose their seating preference. We also do not require families to purchase a set number of tickets. Families buy only what they want.
We do not make our young children have their own performance, and we do not have separate performances for ballet versus jazz, tap, and modern. Our productions showcase all of the dance styles we teach, and demonstrate the progression of dance training by having all ages in one show. This really adds to the feeling of inclusion and community we emphasize at our studio.
Many families say our unique annual production is one of their favorite aspects of our school because they are so much more enjoyable to watch than a normal recital that has unrelated dance routine after dance routine.
We also believe children should wear age-appropriate costumes and dance age-appropriate steps, and we never put our dancers in risqué costumes.
Our performing company Ballet Misha provides several addition performance experiences every year for dancers who wish to perform more. Ballet Misha’s The Nutcracker was awarded the “Best Art Event of the year” by the Hippo Press. We have also done a full length ballets of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Wild Swans, as well as shorter ballets including Where the Wild Things Are, The Mermaid and The Magic Comb, Isabella and the Pirate Prince, and Gwendolyn the Graceful Pig. We have also done several performances of new choreographic works, and performances at local schools, public libraries, Retirement Communities, The Currier Museum of Art, The Manchester Community Music School, Canterbury Shaker Village, and numerous special events.