At age 11, Reagan Lowe has already been dancing for several years.

“I’ve been doing it ever since I was little, little … since I was a toddler,” said Reagan, who’d come to the Temple Theater in Meridian from Montrose with her grandmother, Judy Lowe. She was there Wednesday afternoon to audition for the Meridian production of the “Great Russian Nutcracker,” with the Moscow Ballet.

With a combination of intensity and jollity, scores of children, ages 6 to 18, talked with friends and family members and practiced movement before the audition — and then, once the audition started, they moved gracefully on stage with ballerina Maria Morari, audition director for the Moscow Ballet.

For more than a decade, Meridian children have been performing the “Great Russian Nutcracker” with the Moscow Ballet, which itself is about 25 years old.

“We keep doing it because these children will never forget, for the rest of their lives, performing with these Russian ballerinas,” said Ken Rainey, who produces the performance with Tony Sansone. “It’s a beautiful production.”

The performance with the Moscow Ballet is slated for 7 p.m. Nov. 20 at Temple Theatre, with reserved seat tickets priced at $30, and general admission tickets for top-balcony seats at $15, Rainey said. Community financial support has kept the prices below the price for similar performances in other cities, he said.

Those tickets go on sale, he said, at 10 a.m. Oct. 23.

Morari is in her first year as audition director — but she’s accustomed to working with children, and she said lots of interaction is important when they’re performing.

“We talk about what they are going to do on stage, (multiple) times,” she said. “They’re very excited about the process.”

One task, she said, is to help the children focus “only on the choreography” amid potential distractions. She said she’s found that children have responded well to the direction.

“Children are very patient,” she said. “I’ve met a lot of patient children in ballet.”

And if all doesn’t go perfectly?

“I just hug them,” she said with a laugh. “I just try to say, ‘Everything is OK. It’s a mistake. We are humans, and next time we’ll do better.’ In these cases, I can’t be strict — because I understand.”

Morari, who lives in the country of Moldova, graduated from college this past June and joined the Moscow Ballet shortly afterward. She’s danced since she was 5 years old and began studying in “professional ballet school” when she was 10 years old, she explained. She’s taught ballet and aesthetic gymnastics.

The children waiting to audition seemed ready for the challenges Morari was about to present.

“I like everything about it,” Anya Johnson, 12, said of dancing. Anya, from Newton, was at the audition with her mother, Tina Johnson. She and Reagan both attend LA Dance in Newton.

Leslie Lee, the dance coordinator for the production, mentioned the thrill of the children when they see the professional dancers during the performance.

“That’s the reason I do this,” she said. “The reaction of the children.”

Lee, the owner of Elegance Ballroom Dance and Fitness Studio in Meridian noted the delight of children when they see distinguished ballet dancers.

“It’s so exciting for them to meet a world-class dancer, and also someone from a different culture,” she said.

And Lee noted that the production may end up including experienced and novice dancers working together.

“The experienced children take on that mentor’s role,” Lee said.

After the audition, children will rehearse regularly to prepare for the production. Participating local dance studios and organizations include Elegance Ballroom Dance and Fitness Studio, Carol Merrill Academy of Dance, Encore Dance Company, Suzie McCraw School of Dance, Meridian Community College and — in Philadelphia — Ms. Tina’s Studio.