DEC. 3, 2010 -- "Nutcracker at the Fox," in St. Louis through Sunday, includes several roles for children -- 118 in all, plus 50 children sing in the choir provided by the Kirkwood Children's Chorale. For the past three months, the young local dancers have been rehearsing for the show. Here's some more information about the talented kids.

• There are 10 pairs of siblings – nine sisters, one brother-and-sister pair.
• Veterans - 45 members of this year's cast performed in Nutcracker at the Fox in 2009, three performed in 2007 but not 2009, five will have performed in all three years.
• 34 different dance schools are represented.
• The dancers come from 88 different public, private and parochial schools – elementary, middle and high schools on both sides of both rivers - plus 3 dancers are home-schooled students.
• East to West, North to South - Dancers live as far east as Troy, Ill. (the furthest east) to Labadie, Mo. (about one hour west). And they are as far north as St. Charles and south as DeSoto.

Meaghyn McDonald, 9, is one of the Nutcracker's young peformers. She plays a Christmas tree angel and studies dance at Laverne Meier in Overland. A fourth-grader at Ross Elementary, McDonald was diagnosed with a hearing impairment when she was little. Her mom says, "Despite this, her two favorite hobbies are dance and playing cello."

>> More about the kids performing in the Nutcracker, visit the Dance St. Louis blog.

>> More on the "Nutcracker at the Fox"

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