The Greater Niagara Ballet Company will hold auditions for dance roles in our upcoming production of Swan Lake on Sunday, March 30, 2025. The performances will be August 1-2, 2025, at the University at Buffalo’s Center for the Arts Drama Theater.
Auditions will be held in person at 1201 Pine Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY beginning at 10:00am. Enter through the purple door entrance on Portage Road. Ballet attire is required.
Register online to reserve your spot by clicking on the time/age group below.
In-person registration/check-in opens at 9:30am for those auditioning at 10am. Dancers/parents are STRONGLY encouraged to register online prior to arrival to avoid delays and to make sure the audition spot is held (note that some auditions may fill to capacity prior to the audition date). Before you submit your registration, you must check that you have read all of the agreements near the end of the form.
Audition times are as follows:
10:00 am – 10:30 am: Ballet dancers. All genders. Ages 10 & 11
Possible Roles Available: Ballet Roles, Character Roles*
Requirements: must be age 10 by 8/1/25 with minimum of 2 years ballet class experience past the primary level* and must be currently enrolled in ballet classes. Ballet dancers in their 2ndyear of continuous ballet training may audition.
10:45am – 11:30am: Ballet dancers/Character dancers. All genders. Ages 12 & up
Possible Roles Available: Ballet/Character Dance Roles, Character Roles*
Requirements: must be age 12 by 8/1/25 with minimum 3 years ballet experience past the primary level* and must be currently enrolled in ballet classes.
12:00pm – 1:15pm: Advanced Ballet Dancers. All genders. Ages 14 & up
Possible Roles Available: Corps de ballet Roles, Character Dance Roles, Soloists
Requirements: must be age 14 by 8/1/25 with a strong ballet background. Minimum 3 years of ballet experience. 1 year of pointe work training required for those auditioning for corps de ballet. Soloist roles en pointe will require at least 3 years of pointe training. Dancers ages 14+ without the required background will not be permitted to participate in this audition; they should attend the 10:45 am audition.
IMPORTANT NOTES & INFORMATION:
· *”Primary level” typically refers to classes taken prior to age 8. Studios have different names for such classes (ex. Primary, creative movement, pre-ballet, storybook ballet, etc.). For the purposes of this audition, we consider primary levels to be ballet classes taken prior to the school year when a child turned 8.
· **All dancers auditioning will be considered for “character roles”; some dancers who auditioned for dancing roles may be given a character role in lieu of a dancing role even if they did not try out for character roles. Character roles do not require pointe shoes/training.
· Online registration is STRONGLY encouraged prior to arrival; for those registering in-person, you will still need to register through the same system online when you arrive.
· Make sure you sign off on all agreements on the online registration form; all parents/dancers must sign off on agreements to be cast.
· Everyone auditioning should arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the scheduled audition times (i.e. for an 11am audition, you should arrive no later than 10:30am).
· The audition will be held at the Niagara Arts & Cultural Center (NACC), 1201 Pine Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY 14301 (use purple door entrance on Porter Avenue side of the building).
· Contact us at gnbcballet@gmail.com at least a week before the audition if you or your dancer do not know which audition to attend.
· If you cannot make the audition date, you MUST contact us BEFORE auditions, and this must be done through emailing us at gnbcballet@gmail.com to make arrangements. This policy is in place for both new and returning dancers. The company strongly prefers that dancers who cannot make auditions try out via one of our ballet classes the week prior to auditions.
· No one should attend more than one audition time. No dancers will be permitted to attend auditions at a higher age range or level due to safety/injury concerns and casting requirements. This includes dancers running late or those who misread audition times. Dancers who do not have the skill level required at a certain audition will be asked to leave the audition and audition instead during class the following week.
· If the directors notice a dancer registered for the wrong audition or for more than one audition, they have the right to remove/move the dancer from the wrong audition to the appropriate audition. If unsure of which audition to attend, dancers/parents should contact us at gnbcballet@gmail.com at least a week prior to auditions to be placed.
· Roles will be assigned in April. If chosen, dancers must be prepared to attend rehearsals over the summer.
· Although we will do our best to cast all those who have auditioned, some dancers may receive only character roles with little or no dancing involved and/or understudy roles.
· We will have long rehearsal days on June 28th and 29th to set most of the ballet. Most regular rehearsals will be on Wednesday evenings, Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons in July. Dancers can miss only 3 total rehearsals due to conflicts or illness; those on vacation for more than a week in July will not be eligible.
· The rehearsals on June 28th and 29th will be required for dancers 12+ depending on their roles. Dancers who have years of experience dancing with the GNBC who have a conflict with this June weekend should contact us at gnbcballet@gmail.com at least a week prior to auditions. Those without professional dance experience, not enrolled in a college/university dance program, and who have not performed with us previously who cannot attend June 28th and 29th will not be eligible. The exceptions are for the roles for 10 and 11 year olds as they will not be rehearsing on 6/28 or 6/29 .
· The directors have the right to pull any dancer from the cast who misses over 3 rehearsals, regardless of the circumstances.
· Times/dates are subject to change.