Chicago Area Greek Kids Perform in Joffrey Ballet’s "The Nutcracker"

This year’s production of the Joffrey Ballet’s The Nutcracker includes two Greek-American dancers from the Chicago area.

Austin Smith, 9, son of Dion and Kathy Kalesperis Smith of Chicago, will play the role of Party Boy # 3. Austin has been dancing since he was 5, and he began in the after school dance program at South Loop Elementary School. There, he’s played the roles of Michael in Peter Pan, Pinocchio in Shrek the Musical and Andy Warhol in Twist and Shout. He got involved with the Joffrey at the age of 8, when his hip-hop teacher suggested he take a ballet class; he was then enrolled in a week-long class at the Joffrey last year. This is his first professional production.

Kali Konstantinopoulos, 11, of nearby Munster, IN will also perform in this year’s production. The daughter of George and Angie Konstantinopoulos, she began dancing at the age of three. Kali has previously participated in the Joffrey Academy’s Junion Summer Intensives, where she learned about auditions for The Nutcracker. In her first major role, she’ll play the Mounted Mouse.

Approximately 120 children from the Chicago area, as well as neighboring Wisconsin and Indiana, perform in the production each year. The young dancers must audition in September and then rehearse one or two times a week.

Joffrey’s The Nutcracker, based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s early 19^th century German tale, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” has become a Chicago holiday favorite since its first performance here in 1996. The show runs December 10-26 at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.

Photos by Bob Nick