Santa and team prep for a grand entrance at Red Bank Catholic’s Holiday Dance Spectacular, going up tonight and tomorrow at the school’s Broad Street Auditorium.

While throngs of shoppers march in step to the One-Day Sales and Midnight Madness events, terpischorean teens from two local high schools are getting ready to strut their stuff in the weekends leading up to the winter break.

Tonight and tomorrow night, the Dance Department at Red Bank Catholic High School rings in the Yuletide season with “high energy, high kickin’ numbers in the style of the world famous Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular” — during a Holiday Dance Spectacular that also promises a Living Nativity and a guest appearance from Santa, conducting “a journey from the streets of New York to the North Pole.”

Tickets for either of the shows (Friday 7pm, Saturday 8pm) are priced at $10 and are available from the RBC bookstore in advance or at the door. Call (732)747-1774 for more info and be sure to bring a new unwrapped toy for this year’s Toys for Tots collection.

Next Saturday, December 17, it’s Red Bank Regional‘s turn to make like the Rockettes, as the dance students of the Visual and Performing Arts Academy bring their annual Holiday Dance Concert to the school stage.

Dancers from the Performing Arts program at Red Bank Regional High School rehearse for the upcoming Holiday Dance Concert, going up Saturday, December 17.

Presented in two acts — the first with traditional holiday numbers, the second featuring an eclectic mix of jazz, ballet, modern, lyrical and contemporary (including hip hop) styles — the RBR event boasts a program of numbers choreographed by students and alumni, including returning guest artists Barbara Vari and Jessica Smith.

Scheduled segments include Duffy’s “Syrup and Honey” (choreographed by senior Kendall Van Winkle of Little Silver), Britney Spear’s version of “My Only Wish is You” (choreographed by junior Jessica Adderly of Union Beach), as well as three numbers, including “XR2” by MIA, choreographed by senior Dillon Jackson of Little Silver.

Phoenicia Butler of Red Bank is also directing the dancers for three of the concert’s numbers, among them the Christina Aguilera song “Born to You” and a Hip Hop remix to the Gene Kelly’s signature “Singing in the Rain.” The senior’s choreography of the holiday finale features all 45 RBR dancers in costume and in motion to such seasonal songs as “When Christmas Comes to Town,” “Hot Chocolate” (from the animated film Polar Express), “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” “It’s a Marshmallow World” and the Rockette-style showstopper “I want to be a Rockette.”

Tickets for the 7pm program ($10 dollars adults; $5 students and seniors) are available at the door or by calling (732) 842-8000, extension 364.