advanced ballerina
When the spotlight goes up on the annual Backstage Dance Academy recital, the Tiny Toes class starts the show. Every year, this class of two and three year-olds makes its dancing debut with “The Dinosaur March.” Wearing their first tutus and led by their teachers, the students tip toe out on the stage to twirl, spin, yawn, roar and gesticulate to the lyrics of the song. They bump into each other, some wave, others just stop and stare, basking in their newfound stardom while the parents in the audience swell with pride.
For many of these tiny dancers, this performance marks the beginning of the love of dance as a fun form of exercise and art. For students ready to raise the barre on their dancing skills, ballet, team competition and musical theater are three ways dancers can advance their training.
From Tiny Toes to On Their Toes
It is not long after budding ballerinas take their place at the barre that they start dreaming about getting their first pair of pink satin pointe shoes. This privilege is reserved for those dancers willing to put in the hard work and commitment required to reach this advanced level of dance.
Most instructors require two ballet classes and a pre-pointe class per week to ready the dancers’ bodies for pointe class. They also should be around the age of 11 or 12, to ensure that damage will not be done to the growing foot.
“Going on pointe is such a magical moment for so many students,” says Wendy Wagner, director of Backstage Dance Academy. “Pointe work can be detrimental to a student’s feet if they start too early so it is not a decision I, as a teacher, make lightly.”
The ballet instructor will make the final decision as to whether a dancer is physically ready for pointe and may even accompany her to the first pointe shoe fitting.
Dancers who find their passion en pointe may then decide to begin pre-professional training. “In every advanced class of pre-professional level students, only a handful will continue to a performing career,” Miami City Ballet Principal Jennifer Kronenberg writes in her book So You Want to Be a Ballet Dancer?” There simply are not enough jobs and many students may not have the skill ultimately to become a professional. The training, however, still is advantageous to those who love ballet, according to Kronenberg, because it “offers an unparalleled level of challenge, discipline and self-awareness.”
A typical schedule for the pre-professional ballet dancer involves four to six days a week of classes in ballet, Pilates, variations (learning choreography from famous ballets), pointe and pas de deux (dancing with a partner). Male ballet dancers also need additional strength and weight training to enable them to lift ballerinas and to prevent injury, according to Kronenberg.
Pre-professional dancers do not take breaks for the summer; rather they audition for coveted spots at ballet intensives that involve several weeks of daylong training at nationally recognized ballet companies.
Naples Academy of Ballet student and seventh grader Melanie Wells attended the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Connecticut this summer for a three-week ballet intensive that included more than 30 hours of dance per week plus Russian language instruction.
Grace Miller, a Naples Dance Conservatory student and ninth grader who has attended summer intensives at the Miami City Ballet, was accepted into the six-week Kirov Ballet program in Washington, D.C., this past summer. She states that her dancing benefited from the “strict Russian training,” noting that corrections by her instructors easily became part of her muscle memory due the amount of hours spent in the studio.
Ninth-grader Victoria Sorhegui attended the Ellison Ballet intensive in New York City after spending much of last year preparing for the Youth American Grand Prix, one of the largest ballet competitions in the world. The summer intensive not only improved her technique; it helped her discover how much she loves dancing. “I feel I did grow as a ballet dancer technically and also emotionally,” the Naples Dance Conservatory student says.
All three girls aspire to dance professionally one day.
So You Think You can Dance?
Performance teams are for multi-skilled dancers who love to perform and compete. These dancers must make time in their schedules for technique classes in ballet, tap, lyrical and jazz, as well as for team rehearsals and out-of-town competitions.
Wendy Wagner offers both a performance team for dancers who want more opportunity to perform locally and age-based competition teams for statewide competitions. Her students are required to take five to eight classes in addition to rehearsal time. The benefit of participating on these teams as well as any dance class, Wagner says, is to teach “students self-confidence, discipline, teamwork and creativity” while building lifelong friendships.
Seventh grader Maiya Bryant, who is a member of the Dance Arts by Maria competition team, says that she enjoys the different styles of choreography they learn for the competitions. Last year, her team participated in OnStage America, Starquest, JUMP and Starbound.
The Naples Performing Arts Center proves that ballroom dancing is not strictly for stars. This studio trains students ages 8 to 18 to compete with a partner in ballroom and Latin dancing while developing confidence, social skills and self-esteem.
From Pirouette to Triple Threat
Dancers who can sing and act often find their passion in the theater. These dancers take a schedule of classes that may include ballet, tap, and jazz, as well as vocal and acting training to prepare for the stage. The Naples Players’ KidzAct and the Naples Performing Arts Center both offer a class that culminates in a musical theater production at the end of the course. These groups provide one-stop shopping for learning many of the skills needed to perform in the theater.