Posted: Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Heather Haas, lifestyles reporter | Virginia Tech

Leaper's mission for her program is for children to not only learn to dance, but to love to dance. Last year the studio started planning the Nutcracker after being in business for only three months. Having grown in popularity over the past year, the 2013 cast includes 120 members, one of the largest casted Nutcrackers in the area.  Local attorney, James Creekmore says "Heather takes her job seriously, but she has a lot of fun doing it and she made it very fun for the kids. If there was ever a time, for example, that the kids would be out of step, Heather might slide right out from under the curtain and go out there with them and it wasn't inhibiting the production at all, it was participating in it, making it fun for everybody and with her spirit, she kept it upbeat for everyone."