A small mouse Angelina Mousling with big dreams

It was all tutu exciting when little ballet dancers Tahi-Ora Tito and Corey Te Hei met their favourite mouse, Angelina Mousling, who is in Whangarei for her big audition.

Angelina Mousling is a fictional mouse and the star of about 20 popular children's books Angelina Ballerina, which became an animated television series in 2002, then a musical, and now a ballet.

The charming, fun, child-friendly ballet Angelina Ballerina's Big Audition is about how Angelina loves to dance and dreams of becoming a famous ballerina. In a production packed with colourful characters and costumes, Angelina prepares for her most important performance - before a judge from the Camembert Academy. Will she be good enough? Will her dreams come true?

Among characters who cannot fail to charm are Angelina's ballet teacher Miss Lilly and best friend Alice Nimbletoes.

The popular stage show as been brought to Whangarei by the Royal New Zealand Ballet during a national tour.

There will be three performances in Whangarei today. With such an exacting schedule, three dancers play Angelina in the tour. Yesterday Tahi-Ora, 7, and Corey, 5, who learn dancing with Dance Inc, Northland, met one of the principle dancers, Bridgett Letters-Peak - one of the Angelinas.

Designed for a younger audience, this delightful ballet provides the perfect treat for children aged from two-years-old but also has wider appeal. The 75-minute performance (including a 20-minute interval) features ballet, hip-hop, contemporary dance, tap dancing and "a little bit of magic".

"The production may be the first many children have experienced, so it has to be the right introduction to dance and theatre," said RNZB managing director Amanda Skoog.

A second RNZB company has just returned from a successful Australian tour, performing to 62,000 Angelina fans in six centres including

Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Originally an English National Ballet production, the NZ version of Angelina Ballerina's Big Audition features dancers from Australia, NZ and Britain.