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Overview

My professional performing experience is unique as it was unlike most with professional careers in ballet which extends into their 30s.  This is a brief overview of my training, performance and professional work to further expand upon my curriculum vitae.

 

Training

At the age of three, I began taking classes at a suburban dance school in Stoneham, MA, Ferdette’s School of Dance.  Mrs. Ferdette, a friend of E. Virginia Williams, informed her of my innate musicality and ability to quickly learn and retain choreography.  In 1976, I attended an audition for the Boston School of Ballet via invitation by Ms. Williams and was accepted (with merit scholarship) despite being two years younger than those accepted to begin ballet training. I trained with Ron Cunningham, Samuel Kurkjian and Ms. Williams during my first three years.  In 1980, I was invited to join Ms. William’s special “1:00 Saturday class” where she worked exclusively with students she wished to train hands on.  Also during this time, I began training six days per week with Sydney Leonard, Shauna Bereska and eventually Violette Verdy, Bruce Wells, Harriett May, Anna-Marie Holmes, and Catherine Busch, to name a few.  I remained as part of the Boston Ballet School until 1988.

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For the summers of 1984-1989, I attended the School of American Ballet (with merit scholarship) in levels 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6.  During my time there, I trained with Elise Reiman, Richard Rapp, Antonia Tumkovsky, Stanley Williams, Suki Schorer, Alexandria Danilova, Susan Pilarre, Andrei Kramarevsky and Peter Martins.  In addition, I worked with guest instructors:  Karin von Aroldingen and Merrill Ashley.

 

While training at SAB, I was first asked to become a year-round student at the age of 14 and again when 15.  When 16, Peter Martins personally invited me to train at SAB with the intent on becoming an apprentice.  My parents, education-focused, were not impressed with the offerings of the academics offered at Professional Children’s School.  Instead, I attended Walnut Hill School of the Performing Arts and spent one-to two-weeks per month training in NYC.

 

With full intention of auditioning for companies upon graduating from high school, my father informed me that he wished for me to attend college.  Making the case more compelling was his declaration that he would only pay for my college education if I attended immediately following high school graduation.  From advice from Violette Verdy, I auditioned for Indiana University while in Indiana to audition for Butler University.  After talking with Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, I knew IU was the best choice for me despite greater offers of awards from Butler University and University of Utah.

 

I attended and trained with Indiana University’s Ballet Department (with academic and merit scholarship) for four years.  While there, I gained invaluable insight on the merging of artistry and technique which spawned my future developments in arts education.

 

Professional Performing Experience

In 1980, I was invited to join the Children’s Performing Workshop of Boston Ballet.  This division of Boston Ballet served as a touring company of children primarily aged 12 to 16 to perform lecture demonstrations and performances throughout New England and the Tri-State area (similar to the duties of the current Boston Ballet II and many second companies).  In addition, members of this division were utilized in Boston Ballet productions as well as touring ballet companies performing in Boston such as The Royal Ballet and The Kirov Ballet.  As a paid member of this division, touring with the company was included when necessary.  During my years with the Children’s Performing Workshop of Boston Ballet, I attended classes and rehearsals in the afternoon in addition to classes in the evenings requiring an altered school schedule where I would attend until 11am.  Because I lived 45 minutes outside of Boston, this allowed me to arrive at the studio for 12pm classes.  During performing season:  travel, classes, rehearsals and performances were continuous and ran concurrently with the system of Boston Ballet.

 

For three summers, I performed in School of American Ballet’s “Summer Performance Workshop” being rehearsed and coached by Suki Schorer, Susan Pilarre and Karin von Aroldingen.

 

While attending Indiana University, I performed with the Indianapolis Ballet Theater through recommendation from Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux.  After auditioning for Miami City Ballet in March 1992, I was offered a contract for the 1992-93 season but turned it down due to my wish to complete my undergraduate degree.

 

Upon graduation from Indiana University, I accepted a contract with a small company in Florida, Dance Theater of Florida.  While in rehearsal with this company, I landed from a jump and severed my tendon.  After examination, it was discovered that I had six cases of tendonitis, three cases of bursitis, a severed tendon and a torn tendon.  The suggested plan was two surgeries, six months apart then an additional four to six months of healing; after six months of physical therapy, I would be able to return to the studio to begin re-training.  Knowing that my body would change due to genetics and that I would be in my mid-20s when returning to the studio, I knew that my performing career was over.  I performed in two additional productions as a featured artist for a small, starting company knowing those would be my final times on the stage.

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Featured Repertoire

Throughout my performing career, I was fortunate to dance in many ballets—from corps to featured roles; as a quick study, I was also often assigned several roles to understudy, of which I completely learned.  Some of my most influential coaches were Violette Verdy, James Capp, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, E. Virginia Williams, Alexandria Danilova, Patricia McBride and Harriett May. Below is a condensed list of featured roles:

 

• Classical Repertoire: (“Princess Florine, ”Aurora Act III, “Diamond Fairy”, “Courante Fairy”), (Myrtha), (“Black Swan Pas de Deux”, “Four Little Swans”, Act I Pas de Trois), (All 3 Shades), (Act III Pas de Deux, “Cupid”), , , (“Competition Girl”), (Prelude, Waltz)

• Balanchine Works: (“2nd violin”), (“Lead Russian Girl”, “Waltz Girl”), (“My One and Only”), , , (“The Liberty Bell”),

• New Works: Samuel Kirkjian’s“The Nightingale” in ; Jacques Cesbron’s “The Temptress” in , “Chopinana” in ; Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux’s ““Arabian” and “Snow Queen” in new choreography of , “Diamond Fairy” and “Fairy of Temperament” in new production of ; Mark Morris’s original