Volé ballet student club will hold its semi-annual performance this weekend.

At 2 p.m. Sunday in the HUB-Robeson Center's Heritage Hall, Volé will be performing various Nutcracker excerpts in the first of two acts. The group will perform several holiday-themed pieces for the second act, Volé President Lisa Kolesar (junior-elementary education) said.

About 50 to 60 dancers will be involved in this semester's show.

"[Nutcracker's] a timeless ballet. Everyone loves seeing The Nutcracker during the holidays," Kolesar said. And with a motley audience, The Nutcracker is a crowd-pleaser, she added.

The first one-hour act of each show is classical ballet, re-staged by students. Re-staging is when students watch videos of the original professional performances and imitate the exact choreography as closely as possible, publicity chair Sirinya Prasertvit (junior-premedicine) said.

After a 15-minute intermission, the second one-hour act is a conglomeration of pieces revolving around a different theme each semester such as "ballet through the decades," or movies, Prasertvit said. Last year the second act theme was Thriller and dancers combined Michael Jackson music with ballet choreography for a fun, modern combination, she said.

Volé performance participation is voluntary and open to all 200 or so members of the club, regardless of skill level.

Prasertvit said she thought the greatest misconception about Volé is that "only people with experience or who have danced before can dance. We have a lot of beginners. We're especially proud of our beginner performers. That takes a lot of courage -- you're in college to get up there and do something you've never done before."

Different pieces within each act, especially in the second act, which is student choreographed, are designed for different level dancers, Prasertvit added.

Right now the dancers are nervous and excited, Kolesar said. The fall performance is earlier than usual this year, but everyone is looking forward to the show despite the rush to prepare, she added.

"We all love doing this. That's why we do it," Prasertvit said.

Erin Antosh (sophomore-management), Volé Ballet Mistress, said rehearsals have been stressful lately.

"Everyone's going to be pretty relieved after the show," she said. "The fun starts to happen right before the show when everyone's comfortable with what they're doing."

For now though, rehearsals are rigorous as dancers are anxious.

"I want people to walk away with a new conception of ballet and dance. It's not just always classical ballet. It's for anybody who loves to dance," Prasertvit said. "We're creating something that's fun to watch and fun to do."

Aside from dancing, club members will be running sound from the master CD, getting the dancers on stage on time, among other technical responsibilities, Kolesar said.

There are usually two showings of each performance; one on a Friday night and one on a Saturday night, but because of space complications there will only be one performance.

Usually more than 700 people total attend the performances. This year the audience is expected to be about 300 members. The event is free, and seating will be first come, first serve.

Volé executive board members said they hope to draw a large audience to see a fun performance so many students have worked so hard on and that the show will peak interest in the club from dancers of all levels.

"We're not just a bunch of dance freaks," Antosh said.