Lily Freebury performs as a Snow Tree Angel in the Joffrey Ballet Nutcracker.

Pierce Downer fifth grader Lily Freebury has a very special job this holiday season. Dressed as a Snow Tree Angel, she ushers the Snow Queen and Snow King on stage during the Joffrey Ballet's Nutcracker. 

We recently interviewed Lily to learn more about her experiences performing in this classic Christmastime ballet! Here's an excerpt from the interview:

What is it like to perform in the Joffrey Nutcracker?

I auditioned in September and we started rehearsals the beginning of October, practicing every Sunday at the Joffrey Tower in studios with huge windows overlooking State Street! The Snow Tree Angels had our first rehearsals with the Joffrey dancers the week of dress rehearsals, just two days before opening night!  The children's cast is split in two and so I perform in half of the 30 shows.  We have to be at the theater an hour and a half before the show starts. We get dropped off on Michigan Avenue and have to walk down an alley to the backstage door! We go to our dressing room and wait. The Snow Tree Angels have to go to "wigs" and then to "costumes" - we can't get dressed in the dressing room since our costumes are so big! We don't get completely ready until we go up to the stage!  We get the "tree" dress on in the wings right before we go on!

Do you have any fun backstage stories?

We have to be at the theater a long time before the show starts, and the Snow Tree Angels go onstage right before the end of Act 1, so we have a lot of time in the dressing room. We share our dressing room with the "Party Girls" and so we all play card games and board games (no electronics are allowed backstage) and just hang out!  I love that I am onstage during the snow scene. The snow is actually made of tiny pieces of paper and is kind of loud when it falls to the stage. Our teacher, Katie Kirwan, had to teach us how to blow the snow off of our faces without making it look weird to the audience and without spitting!  It was hilarious when she was showing us!

What is your favorite thing about the Nutcracker and ballet? 

I love ballet!  At my school, the Academy of Dance Arts, I take almost eight hours a week of just ballet! I am so happy that I get to be onstage in such a beautiful show with real ballerinas doing what I love with them. I have had so much inspiration from the professional dancers - they are all so amazing and have been so kind to us! All the other Snow Tree Angels are really nice too and I have made a lot of new friends!

Is there anything else you'd like to share? 

I never would have thought that the dancers speak to each other during the ballet on stage but they do!  Sometimes it is about the dance or their steps and sometimes it is like acting. Our "Drosselmeyer" is Fabrice Calmels and he is so amazing! During our scene he talks in character to Clara and to us onstage and it was so surprising to me the first time it happened!