More than 1,200 Santa Clarita fourth graders are going to the ballet this week.  The Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons is hosting the Santa Clarita Ballet Nutcracker Outreach Program, now in its 14th year.

“We wanted to expose them number one to quality dance and give them a real theater experience,” said Corinne Glover, executive director of the ballet company.

Busloads of kids from the Newhall, Saugus, and Sulphur Springs school districts, as well as other private schools and home-school groups, arrived at the PAC Wednesday morning.

For many students, it was their first trip to the theater.

“For them, it’s really exciting when they see other students from their schools on stage because it inspires them,” said Outreach Program Coordinator Mary K. Judy. “This isn’t just some movie out of reach, this is something they could aspire to do.”

Prior to coming to the ballet, the students studied E.T.A. Hoffmann’s classic, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” along with the musical score composed by Peter Tchaikovsky.

All of the teachers were given an educational resource box containing point shoes, a boy’s ballet slipper and a DVD of the show to help the students understand the story and the performance.

Following the ballet Wednesday, kids had a chance to ask the performers questions during a short question-and-answer session.

A second outreach performance is scheduled for Thursday.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Santa Clarita Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” performance. Public performances are scheduled Saturday and Sunday at the Performing Arts Center for showtimes and tickets visit SantaClaritaBallet.net or CanyonsPAC.com.