The Nutcracker

SOPHIA SKELTON has been dancing since she was 3 years old. She has performed in the Nutcracker since 2010 when she began as a little reindeer. She joined SVB ’ s junior company in 2017 during her eighth grade year and moved up to the senior company in 2018 for her freshman year. She has participated in productions of Under the Tent, Firebird and 2 new works, Metamorphosis, and Coppelia. Her favorite roles have been one of Swanhilda ’ s friends in Coppelia and Dawn in Coppelia for an outreach performance. She has participated in SVB ’ s 5 week summer intensive for 5 years and was thrilled to participate this past summer in American Ballet Theatre ’ s summer intensive, her favorite professional company. She is delighted to be performing her dream role of the Sugarplum Fairy in this year ’ s production of the Nutcracker. Sophia will graduate from Roanoke Catholic in the spring and is applying to colleges in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. She hopes to minor in dance in order to continue expressing her passion and

love for this art form. She is incredibly grateful to Pedro Szalay, Maria Jessee, Tess Post, and Carrie Jensen for pushing her to be the best dancer and person she can be and for helping her to cultivate her love of dance. She also feels thankful for the love and support of her family and friends who help her in more ways than they can imagine.

Cole Stevens fell in love with dancing through the Dance Español program in the fourth grade. He has been dancing with Star City School of Ballet and SVB ’ s Senior Company for the last eight years. He has performed in productions of The Nutcracker, Ties, Romeo and Juliet, Under the Tent, Hello Trolley, Coppelia, and Firebird & 2 New Works. His favorite roles include the showman in Under the Tent, Marzipan in The Nutcracker, and a peasant in Romeo and Juliet. His dancing adventures have taken him to a summer intensive in Silver Springs with the Maryland Youth Ballet, and the New Prague Dance Festival in the Czech Republic. He is a senior at Patrick Henry High School and enjoys his free time playing the piano, reading political theory, writing music, crafting stories, and running Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. He is very passionate about history and sociology, and plans to study those subjects in college. He is very excited

to play the Nutcracker Prince in this year ’ s production, and would like to thank Pedro Szalay and Maria Jessee for supporting him in learning the role. He would also like to thank his fellow dancers at Southwest Virginia Ballet for inspiring him to be a part of the Company, and his family for supporting him in his pursuit of authenticity.