Young dancers Take a Crack at 'The Nutcracker'

Two local youth have roles to play when the  Joffrey Ballet's production of The Nutcracker takes the stage at the Fox Theatre.

Keron Foster, a senior at , appears in the television commercial for the production, which is also a part of the campaign for the 2010-2011 season of Dance St. Louis. Sixth-grader Bailey Carnes from Hazelwood West Middle School actually be in the production on Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m., Dec 4 at 2 p.m. and Dec. 5 at 6 p.m.

Foster said dance has been his life since he was 13.

"I love contemporary dance, and I hoped  to one day be on a big stage like the Fox Theater," he said. "Since The Nutcracker is about dance, I felt relaxed and a sense of wholeness.

"I saw an ad online and flyers around school and decided to try out. I got a call a week later and was told I got the part to be in the commercial," Foster said. "I've done shows for school before like playing Snoopy in a Charlie Brown production, but nothing of this caliber."

According to Foster, the next step for him is to keep trying out for different productions in the area. After high school he plans on attending college to study entertainment law.

"However things turn out I will be in the entertainment industry," Foster said. "It's my passion and I believe it's what I'm meant for."

Carnes will be playing the sixth party boy in the first scene of the production.

"I'm very excited, this is my first play, and I get to do it at the Fox Theater," Carnes said.

Carnes has been dancing since she was three years old.

"I love dancing. Tap is my favorite, then Ballet and finally Jazz," she said.

Diane Carnes, Bailey's mother said her daughter got hooked on dance when she saw Cinderella at the Muny.

"I remember after the show she looked up at me and said 'Mommy that's what I want to do, I want to perform.' Ever since then, that's what she's done," Diane Carnes said.

Bailey Carnes has taken lessons at L.A. Dance Studio for the past eight years and said her  favorite moment until this was when she danced at Walt Disney World.

"My next step is to audition for an upcoming production at the Muny in 2011," she said.