Everyone will wear masks while in the building.

Please note that the auditions will be filmed so that the artistic team members who were not present will get to see everyone.

Audition schedule is outlined below:

1:00pm (for dancers ages 13 and up who consider themselves to be intermediate-advanced dancers!), beginning with a Ballet technique class (Please attend if you are 13 and older. If you are a beginner, and unsure, email us to ask.)

2:15-3:30 dancers ages 13 and up will stay for auditions for pointe roles, adult roles, and Modern and other Ballet roles, at the studio at 4 Weaverville Hwy, Asheville, NC 28804

All later auditions will happen via Zoom. Please fill out an audition form, and we’ll send you the appropriate Zoom invitation.

3:45-4:15 via Zoom, ages 10-12 (13 and 14 year olds may also be asked to stay in the studio and learn some of this material)

4:15-4:45 via Zoom, ages 7-9

4:45-5:15 via Zoom, ages 4-6

Zoom auditioners: Please put your child’s name in the Zoom name display for your device. On a phone app, click settings, then click on the arrow next to your email and photo at the top, then click “Display Name.” On the Zoom web portal, navigate to “Profile” (on the left) or click your profile image (top right), then where you see your name and profile picture, click “edit” to change the display name.

Please plan to arrive a bit early to find parking. Wear your mask the entire time you are inside. Please arrive in your dance clothes, wash your hands, remove your street shoes, and take your belongings with you into the studio, where you’ll place them by the back door. When your audition is finished, please leave out the back door (parents, please pick up your children at the back door nearest the creek). No parents in the lobby. The audition is closed to any other observers, and family members will not be allowed in the studio or into the lobby (except to use the restrooms).

Thursday morning 12/9 at 9:00am, Friday 12/10 7:30pm, Saturday 12/11 2:30 and 7:30pm, Sunday 12/12 2:30pm

Regularly scheduled rehearsals begin as early as October 1 and run Fridays between 4:00-9:00pm and/or Saturdays 2:15-8:30pm (plan on possibly both), and will include some Sunday afternoon rehearsals (including 11/21, 11/28, 12/5 plus 4:00-8:00pm tech week Mon-Wed 12/6 – 12/8). (See contract for more details; youngest dancers are usually dismissed by 7pm and do not have long rehearsals until two weeks before showtime.) Some rehearsals may be held via Zoom.

MASKS:

ALL dancers will be masked (with CDC-approved masks) at all times while in rehearsal, on site at our studio, as well as at all times while not actively performing on stage at Diana Wortham (you’ll put your mask back on as soon as you hit the backstage area on a performance day).

VACCINATIONS AND TESTING (please note that this guidance may be updated in future):

Due to the requirements of Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, in their effort to ensure the health and wellness of patrons, artists, staff and volunteers, and due to our own desire for the safety and well-being of all our dancers and their families, we require the following.

For children (up to age 12), who are ineligible for vaccines, we require:

- Weekly COVID-19 tests (either at-home or lab-conducted, whatever is easier and least costly for you to get hold of) will be required between October 8 and December 5 (you will need to email us negative test results weekly from October 8 – December 5)

- As we approach our time at the Theatre, you will need to show a negative test result by Monday 12/6, and another by Friday 12/10 (you can have received your results up to 48 hours before 12/6 and up to 48 hours before 12/10).

For everyone 12 years and older (including all teens and adults):

- Proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 will be required for all dancers ages 12 and up,

OR

- If you are 12 and older, but have not been fully vaccinated, you will need to undergo the following testing requirements:

• Weekly COVID-19 tests (either at-home or lab-conducted, whatever is easier and least costly for you to get hold of) will be required between October 8 and December 5 (you will need to email us negative test results weekly from October 8 – December 5)

AND

• Lab-conducted COVID-19 tests will be required for all unvaccinated persons over age 12 as we approach our time at Wortham Theatre. The theatre will require proof of a negative lab-conducted COVID-19 test RESULT within 48 hours of EACH entrance into the Theatre (for all unvaccinated persons 12 years and older). This means you’ll need to get tested on or around Thursday 12/2 or Friday 12/3, so that you have a result around Sunday 12/5 or Monday 12/6, and can enter the theatre on Monday 12/6 and Tuesday 12/7 (your test result will last 48 hours from when you get it back). You’ll want to get another test on or around Sunday 12/5 or Monday 12/6, so that you have a result and can enter the theatre on Wednesday 12/8 and Thursday 12/9. And you’ll want to get another test on or around Tuesday or Wednesday, so that you have a result on Friday 12/10, in order to enter the theatre on Saturday 12/11 and Sunday 12/12. If your test results come back really quickly, you may need to get more tests during that week, as each result will “expire” after 48 hours.

CASTING:

The Artistic Team will be making considerations this year with health and safety in mind. This may mean that children are double-cast in roles (eg. you might perform Friday and Saturday, or Saturday and Sunday), so that if one cast has a COVID exposure or a COVID-positive, the other cast may step in for a certain show. Or, we may have to pull a group of children from a scene if there is a positive case among them. We understand that this could feel devastating to our beloved children and students, so please consider the realities of what could happen in a large production like this one during the current health crisis and discuss them with your child before you decide to commit to the show. We also hope that everyone will do their best to keep their dance family safe and healthy, by avoiding risky/unmasked activities while we all work together to create this wonderful holiday tradition.
 

COVID Studio Usage Agreement for in-person Asheville Ballet audition and rehearsals as of 9/10/21:

1) For everyone, in accordance with the Buncombe County Emergency order on 8/18: Face masks, which cover nose and mouth, must be worn at all times in the studio, lobby, and all other inside spaces, even while dancing, and even while alone in the room, the restroom, or the building. Thank you for helping us keep everyone safe.

Face masks (fabric or disposable) must conform to CDC guidelines, which means they SHOULD:
• Have two or more layers of washable, breathable fabric
• Completely cover your nose and mouth
• Fit snugly against the sides of your face and don’t have gaps

NOT acceptable as masks:
• Mesh or chiffon
• Single-layer gaiters
• Face shields
• Anything with exhalation valves or vents which allow virus particles to escape

2) No one may enter the building who may have been exposed to COVID-19, or who has a fever, sore throat, coughing, loss of taste or smell, or shortness of breath. If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, you must alert your instructor via text and you may not be allowed to enter the space.

- Have you or anyone in your household had any of the following symptoms in the last 5 days:

o sore throat
o cough
o congestion or runny nose
o chills
o headaches for unknown reasons
o body aches for unknown reasons
o shortness of breath or difficulty breathing for unknown reasons
o new loss of smell or taste
o fever at or greater than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit
o nausea/vomiting/diarrhea

- Within the past 14 days, have you been in close physical contact with a person who is known to have laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 or with anyone who has any symptoms consistent with COVID-19?

- Are you isolating or quarantining because you may have been exposed to a person with COVID-19 or are worried that you may be sick with COVID-19?

- Are you currently waiting on the results of a COVID-19 test?

**Your entry into the space each day will serve as your agreement that you have asked yourselves the health screening questions and that you have no reason to believe that you or anyone with whom you have had close contact might be sick. Thank you for your care for your dance community.**

3) Wash your hands and use hand sanitizer frequently. We are asking that everyone wash or sanitize their hands as soon as they arrive, and sanitize their hands frequently, especially after touching their masks or faces.

4) Bring your own water from home. The drinking fountain will not be in use.

5) No food at all is allowed in the building during this time, and the fridge will not be in use.

6) Parents, siblings, and friends will not be allowed to wait in the studio or the lobby. You will drop your children off at the front door at the start of rehearsal, and pick them up at the back door (nearest the creek) at the end of rehearsal – please be on time when rehearsal ends. Please wait in your car during the rehearsal; if you must leave the premises, be sure your child and your child’s rehearsal director have your phone number. There will be no office staff on site, and the lobby doors may be locked during rehearsals. (Parents and siblings will be allowed to use the lobby restrooms, but you must ask yourselves the health screening questions before entering, and you must wear masks that cover your nose and mouth at all times – except children under age 2.)

7) Students will remove their street shoes before entering the studio itself (shoes may be placed on the landing so that you may have them available for a bathroom break). Please bring with you a plastic bag or plastic bin in which to place your street shoes and carry them with you downstairs, where you will place them by the exit door. Please sanitize your hands again after touching your shoes/feet.

8) Please arrive in your dance clothes and warm-ups. Dressing rooms will not be in use. Bring in minimal belongings and keep everything with you downstairs in the studio. At the end of rehearsal, dancers will wash/sanitize their hands, put on their warm-ups, retrieve their belongings, put on their shoes, and leave via the back door, where parents will retrieve them.