Twenty child ballet dancers will be trained for The Nutcracker ballet which will be presented in Hanoi in the Christmas season of 2016, Vietnamplus reports.

These children will take the stage with popular ballet dancers from Russia. The ballet is part of a contest to find the best child dancer with the grand prize amounting to VND100 million, inclusive of a trip to Russia to visit famous ballet theaters.

The qualifying round in September attracted talents at home and abroad to perform different genres of ballet, traditional dance, contemporary dance, dance sport, and belly dance.

A judging panel comprising Meritorious Artist Luu Thi Thu Lan, Meritorious Artist Bui Cong Duy and musician Dang Chau Anh chose 50 contestants and then narrowed down the number to 30 for training with Vietnamese and Russian experts. 

Finally, the top 20 were chosen for the ballet performance.

SGT