Less than a year after moving to Carson City, Sandi Scheer is getting ready to stage her largest production ever.
Auditions were held Saturday for her production of the Nutcracker, but it's not what you expect.
"This one is altogether different than the traditional," Scheer said. "It's something that's never been done here before."
It's called "Nutcracker - All jazzed up" and features jazz, tap, lyrical and specialty routines instead of the traditional ballet.
The storyline is the same and the songs follow the same melody but the music is "all jazzed up."
Scheer is no stranger to performances, however. She has worked with the Pinkerton Ballet for the past two years.
She is also the owner of Dance Spirit, a local dance studio. She left Montana to take over what was formerly known as Kathy's Backstage Studio in March.
"It's going good," she said. "When I bought it, I bought quite a few students with it."
Scheer offers classes in ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical/modern, musical theater, acrobat, ballroom, hip hop and will soon have voice lessons.
She said dancing teaches kids something that they do not learn in school.
"It's important because it teaches the students discipline," Scheer said. "It's a discipline they carry throughout life."
Scheer believes in giving her students the chance to display that discipline in various competitions.
"It gives them a chance to go out and perform," Scheer said. "The ability to get up and perform in front of a large group of people is a positive experience."
However, Scheer said she is very selective about the competitions her students enter. She said she only participates in those competitions that guarantee that each dancer will win an award.
"It teaches them self-respect because they've accomplished something," she said. "There's never any losers. They're all winners in one aspect or another."
Scheer also teaches a hip-hop class at Western Nevada Community College and is the dance line coach for Douglas High School.
She said she would like to see more boys involved in dancing.
"People tend to think that boys who dance are sissies an that's not true at all," she said.
She said she is offering scholarships to any boys who sign up for classes for the first time.
Classes start Aug. 28.
For more information call Sandi Scheer at 884-1066.
