 Living the Dream
January 15, 1998
Dear Dancers,
Happy New Year! I'm
delighted to be back after a two-month hiatus. The book I was slaving over is finally
finished and will be published by Tarcher/Putnam in early April. Written in collaboration
with the Ms. Foundation for Women, creator of Take Our Daughters to Work(r) Day, it's called "Girls Seen
and Heard; 52 Life Lessons for Our Daughters." You'll find lots of information
regarding emotional and physical health as well as career planning which will be useful
for dance teachers, "dance parents," and dance students. Also, there are three
special features: an interactive workbook project, a comprehensive resource list and a
guide to forming a "Circle of Strength" for adults and the girls they cherish. I
hope you'll be as excited about this book as I am!
Onward now to a very
important topic for those of you thinking about summer study in New York: housing. My
debut column in March of 1997 listed some residences and apartment-hunting services, and I
am grateful to JoAnne Ruggeri, Admissions Officer of the Alvin
Ailey American Dance Center, (212) 767-0590 X510, for help in
updating that roster for you. Ms. Ruggeri stresses the
fact that you need to start your search for summer quarters right away. Waiting until
spring could mean not finding a suitable place to stay!
As I mentioned last year,
you can always put together your own summer of study from the amazing array of open
classes in all disciplines here in NYC. However, if you want to enroll in a specific
summer intensive, the time is at hand! Some schools hold audition tours and most require
photographs and videos, along with teacher references. Programs fill up quickly, so start
making plans as soon as possible.
In fact, coming to New
York for the summer might just lead to a big time career. That's exactly what happened to
16-year-old Amanda Knox of Rochester, Michigan. Two years ago, Cornelia Sampson, Director
of the Rochester School of Dance and the Michigan Ballet Theatre, encouraged her promising
pupil to audition for the summer course at the School of American Ballet. Amanda, then 14,
was accepted and was asked to attend the following year as well.
At that point, she was
offered a full scholarship and placed in the prestigious C2 division at SAB. She moved into the dorm and
continued her academic studies via correspondence. Then last spring in the SAB Workshop,
she danced the demanding lead role in Balanchine's "Symphony in 3 Movements" to
excellent reviews. Finally, in November of 1997, she was invited to join the New York City
Ballet. Although officially still an apprentice, she was given the role of
"Spanish" in the "Nutcracker," and is learning five ballets during the
winter season.
"Peter Martins and
Rosemary Dunleavy [the balletmistress] had been watching C2 for a couple of weeks,"
said Amanda, a long-stemmed American Beauty rose who is the very image of the
"Balanchine ballerina." "Then one day after class, Kay Mazo called me over
to tell me I had been chosen!" Reached at home in Michigan, Amanda's mother Pauline
said, "We feel as excited as if we had a new baby! This really is a dream come
true."
Amanda takes company
class at the State Theatre every morning from 10:30 - 12, then rehearses or performs all
afternoon and performs many evenings. City Ballet is an AGMA company, so Amanda gets $95 a
performance as an apprentice, plus all the pointe shoes she needs. As a first year corps
member, which she hopes she'll be in time to dance in Saratoga this summer, she'll earn
$800 a week, plus overtime, pointe shoes, and full benefits such as medical insurance. I
mention this just to remind us all that dancing can definitely be a "real job"!
A dancer who signed
herself only as "Jessica" wrote to say that she had taken Alexander
Tressor's class
at STEPS while in NYC, and that she would
like to know more about this inspiring teacher. Glad to oblige!
Again, I'm happy to be
here again, and I'm busy collecting news for you to use in the months to come.
Pull on those leg warmers
and chasé the winter blues away!
Sondra |
