Imagine if you will, that you live in a small French village just outside of Paris in the 19th century. It is probably a big happening when the traveling circus stops through on their way to the big city. They are exciting and new. The main attraction of the show is a life sized mechanical doll that they have called Collette. There is a legend surrounding the doll that tells of her former life as a real girl who was put under a spell by a witch and turned into a marionette.

This enticing story will be played out on-stage by the members of the Ferndale Dance Academy in their sixth annual performance Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Ferndale Repertory Theatre. The Sunday showing is at 2 p.m.

This performance is a completely fresh story written and directed by the academy's director Laura East.

"Each year we like to surprise our audiences with something new and different," said East. "We want to give our audiences a lively performance that will take them on an emotional journey with the characters and send them home in high spirits."

The amount of dance students this year calls for two different groups of dancers and plenty of chances to see the show.

"There are so many students that we had to divide them up into Cast A and Cast B," said East. "The advanced students do all four performances while the younger girls do 2 shows each. It actually works to the benefit of the more advanced dancers because it teaches them to deliver strong performances when doing multiple shows."

East has a dance background that includes study with the Joffrey Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and danced with the Westchester Ballet. She also studied dance and musical theater at the University of Arizona and apprenticed as a ballet instructor at Ballet Academy East in New York City. East and her husband moved to Ferndale in 2002 and opened the academy a year later with only 35 students.

This years cast features Kelsey Wortman as Colette, Abigail Titus as the ringmaster Francois Dumonde, Kayla Thomas as Marie, an orphan who befriends Collette, Alise Hubner as the Spanish dancer, and Catherine Boers as the Mime.

The dancers are only the icing on the cake of helpers it takes to put a production together. The filling includes clown choreographer Becca Harrison. The sound engineering is by East's husband Michael. The lighting design is by Gary Franklin. The specialty costumes are designed by Lori Knowles and Lareesa Stanfield. The programs for the performance were arranged by Caroline Titus of The Ferndale Enterprise. The backgrounds and scene painting was done by Bruce Keller.

"Our shows are most definitely a community effort," said East. "I think I have managed to rope almost all of our friends into participating in some aspect of the production. Pretty soon people are going to start crossing the street when they see me coming."

Performances for La Marionnette are at the Ferndale Repertory Theatre on June 26-28 at 7 p.m. and June 29 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at the Danish Hall, Monday through Thursday from 2:45-5:30 p.m. and on Fridays from 2:45-5 p.m. Tickets will be sold in the theater lobby on June 19 and 20 from 2:45-5:30 p.m. and June 23-25 from 12:00-5:30 p.m. Tickets will also be sold at the kiosk in front of the theater 45 minutes before the performances. Ticket prices are $12, $10 for seniors and students.