Cartersville City Ballet will continue tradition as the year wraps up with annual performances beginning Saturday of "Kaleidoscope" and continuing in December with "The Nutcracker."

Training out of the Cartersville School of Ballet, Cartersville City Ballet is the performance company presenting these annual shows. Members of the Cartersville Artistic and Talented Showcase of Woodland High School will accompany dancers of Cartersville City Ballet as will some younger members of Cartersville School of Ballet for "The Nutcracker."

The duo of shows comes after a flurry of fall festivals and outdoor performances allowing performers to showcase their many talents through the classical Christmas production as well as the variations found within "Kaleidoscope." Combining a medley of songs and dance styles, "Kaleidoscope" will offer guests of all types an eclectic dance mix that is sure to pique an interest, said Artistic Director Terri Kayser.

"We actually perform quite a bit. On Oct. 2, this is a concert and we entitle it 'Kaleidoscope' because there's just a lot of different styles of dance on that evening. I kind of consider it the show that there's something for everyone. Because it's got country music to classical ballet music, to rock 'n' roll, we've got jazz, modern, tap. There's something in the show that someone is going to enjoy," Kayser said. "They love 'The Nutcracker,' it's a classical ballet, it's a story ballet, they enjoy doing all the different parts of the show and they look forward to getting an opportunity to perform something different each year. But these type of shows, 'Kaleidoscope' and our performances at festivals, it allows them to dance all styles of dance. And really if you want to be a professional dancer, the more styles of dance that you are proficient in the more likely you are to get a job."

With alumni that have come through Cartersville School of Ballet continuing to dance into college and beyond, Kayser noted that many of their former students come back to join them for the annual shows.

"That's one of our school's goals as we train any of our dancers here is to give them as many opportunities in terms of styles of dance as we can. And they do get this performance opportunities in a lot of different styles of dance but definitely as a training program because we are training them as they are part of this company. We want them to be able to continue if they choose to as they go off to college or whatever they choose to do, they'll have this under their belt," Kayser said.

Current students also have plans to continue their pursuits in dance after high school. An already tenured dancer, Hannah Klevesahl, a senior at Woodland, has been dancing most of her life and for five years at Cartersville School of Ballet with hopes of continuing after high school.

"I'm in the C.A.T.S. program at Woodland High School and I knew that dance would really help me grow to be a really triple threat. So I knew that that was my career choice and orienting myself toward that I knew that dance would help," said Klevesahl. "I definitely want to pursue a career in Broadway or in theater in some way -- community theater or something. I've done productions with the Pumphouse before and The Grand and I love the atmosphere in theater."

"Kaleidoscope" will be performed Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at The Grand Theatre. To purchase tickets, call the Grand Theatre Box Office at 770-386-7343. For more information on the Cartersville School of Ballet, call 770-386-4779 or visit www.cartersvilleschoolofballet.com.