Be Beautiful Be Yourself Dancers to Perform in “Nutcracker”

Colorado Ballet Academy Students with Cora Jane and Kristina

Two ballet students from the Global Down Syndrome Foundation’s Be Beautiful Be Yourself Dance Class have been cast by the Colorado Ballet for their official production of the holiday classic “The Nutcracker.” Both students are part of the ensemble of children partygoers and will have plenty of stage time to show off their dance skills and shine!

Global’s star student, Cora Jane Thompson, will perform in the Thursday, Dec. 7th, showing and star student, Kristina Penfield, will perform in the Thursday, Dec. 14th showing. Both students will perform in the prime time 7:30pm showing of The Nutcracker at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, 1101 13th Street in Denver.

Please support Global’s star students and our partner, the Colorado Ballet, by purchasing tickets to The Nutcracker performances on Thursday December 7th and Thursday December 14th at 7:30pm!!

The Global Down Syndrome Foundation’s Be Beautiful Be Yourself Dance Program is made possible by generous grants from the Melvin & Elaine Wolf Foundation, The Daniels Fund, and the Anna and John J. Sie Foundation.

Global is deeply grateful to its program donors and to our partners – the Colorado Ballet and the Sie Center for Down Syndrome at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Our Be Beautiful Be Yourself Dance Class runs for two seasons a year. Each 16 week season is taught by Colorado Ballet professionals alongside Sie Center physical therapists and educators. The program provides instruction on ballet movement, music appreciation, rhythm and basic dance steps as well as interpersonal skills, vocabulary and confidence building to students ages 5-14 who happen to have Down syndrome.

The program is designed as both a confidence builder to dance classes with typical peers and as a stand-alone dance class that gives students with Down syndrome the opportunity to make friends who also have the condition.

Over 30% of our students are scholarship recipients – to support the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Dance Class and our students in need, please make a donation today!

Congratulations, Cora Jane and Kristina! We are so proud of how hard you worked to be cast in The Nutcracker! GOOD LUCK! We know you will SHINE!