Tyrone Area Middle School’s Jade Novak is just 11 years old. But Jade is not your average 11 year old. She has been a dancer for almost all of her life. Jade is currently a member of the Allegheny Ballet Company in Altoona. This year Jade has been given the opportunity to play the lead role of Clara in The Nutcracker at the Mishler Theatre in Altoona.

Jade has been dancing since she was four years old. She joined the Allegheny Ballet Company three years ago.

“The one thing I am most looking forward to is performing as Clara and proving how good of a dancer I am, to the local audience. I am not nervous about playing Clara, because this is my third Nutcracker.”

Jade dedicates much of her life to dance, practicing as much as 20 hours a week.

For her Nutcracker performances, she has been rehearsing on Tuesday and Thursday nights, as well as Saturday afternoons, since the beginning of October.

Jade is level five dancer in Allegheny Ballet’s Company. Before dancing at Allegheny, Jade trained for three and a half years in Sicily with an Italian instructor.

When asked what her favorite style of dance was, Jade said “My favorite style would be classical ballet, because it is a way of expressing myself.”

The company will present three performances of the Nutcracker Ballet at the historic Mishler Theatre in downtown Altoona. The dates and times are:

• Friday, December 16, 2016 at 7:30 pm
• Saturday, December 17, 2016 at 7:30 pm
• Sunday, December 18, 2016 at 1:00 pm

For those interested in watching Jade and the rest of the company perform, tickets can be found here.