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23. Those famous notes synonymous with the sounds of the season. Each move carefully choreographed the Nutcracker *** holiday tradition for countless Iowa performers. Nutcracker is Christmas. Nutcracker is almost more Christmas than Christmas itself. From the curtain rising. Every December Tom Mattingly with ballet Des Moines helps his young dancers bring the Christmas Classic to life. 567, *** bigger of *** show up, normally perfectly pointed toes and straight lines are expected. But this year, Tom is not only looking for perfection. Really. The goal here is to put on *** production where the kids are having *** really great time and part of having *** great time is doing it as well as you possibly can because most of these dancers have been practicing their pirouettes since they could walk. But *** few on the stage just tried their first play *** few weeks ago. Now, this is my first time. Yeah, I'm still getting used to it tight. This is all new to 11 year old Jaden. He's still trying to embrace the activity. He once thought was only for girls. It feels like it's just that you don't got no clothes on. That's what I feel like trying something new comes with *** bit of *** learning curve and mess ups are bound to happen last year. I messed up about two times and it was kind of scary. Serenity knows the feeling. I turned around and she was like right there and I was like, oh, and then I went there and then we started dancing. I was like, oh my God, I miss my QE missing *** cue isn't *** big deal, especially compared to the big opportunity that brought the beginner ballerinas to center stage. The kids like the kids never dreamed of the possibility, but they didn't even know the opportunity existed because Drayden and Serenity live in Des Moines Oak Ridge neighborhood where the poverty level reaches higher than 95%. Simply put dance class is too expensive for most families to afford. That's exactly why. Two years ago, Ballet Des Moines extended the invitation. The kids from Oak Ridge are welcome. They don't really have the stage to showcase, you know who they are in *** small gym wearing socks instead of ballet slippers with no formal dance training. These kids absorbed every move like *** sponge. So it was just *** really great opportunity to be exposed to that world. Also of art and dance. Throughout the year, ballet pros visit the neighborhood holding dancing workshops, even auditions for *** part in the Nutcracker. There's talent everywhere. It's just whether or not they get *** chance to be nurtured and developed. I never really liked doing ballet because I thought it was too slow. But 10 year old serenity caught on fast. She was the only kid from her neighborhood to make the cut last year if you get it. All right. I think you're just like, oh my God, I got the hint of this. It's easy. It's easy. I can do it. The fifth grade Trailblazer quickly questioning if she was meant to dance here. When I came here. I was just like, wow, there's so many different skin colors. I'm just the only one who's this dark. And I was just like, I mean, I don't belong because I had pink tights. I just brown tights. I was just like, I don't, I don't fit in and then I was like next year, I'm not going to do this and then I'm here now and I get to do it. Cool. And then I have brown tights, brown shoes. I'm in the right. I have it. Not just me, not just my same skin tone and everything. It's cool this year. She's back and brought 10 of her neighborhood friends with her, even her kid brother. Actually *** beer told me he was like, oh, I'm going to do that next hour and she was like, please don't. I was like, please don yet. Here they are getting in one last bracket of makeup. I don't the neighborhood crew ready for their moment because there's going to be *** bunch of people that I don't know Sherman Places stage is only three blocks away from the Oak Ridge neighborhood. And as the crowd settles into their seats, this moment in front of 1400 people felt like *** world away. Having never seen the nutcracker before, let alone dance to its songs. This Christmas, they're owning their roles in the holiday tradition, writing themselves into *** narrative that wasn't maybe made for them. But they can transform the narrative in the story among the perfectly pointed toes in straight lines proving they belong here. I'm proud of myself that I made it in Des Moines Jody Long.