The Road Less Traveled (psst...is ok, too!)

The Road Less Traveled (psst...is ok, too!)


Ok, there is only one path to becoming a professional ballerina.  Start young, dance every day of the week, go to every summer program there is, and NEVER GO TO COLLEGE, you'll be too old when you graduate to get a job.

WRONG.  Sure that is a great plan for success, but who wants to do what everyone else does anyway?

In all seriousness, that plan is probably the best way to make it to the big leagues of ballet.  There were times, in my life, that I wish I had done just that.  People often ask me how I ended up at Ballet West.  I definitely took the road less traveled to Salt Lake City, making stops in places like good choices, bad choices, heartbreaks and triumphs.

I started ballet at the age of three (at least I got one thing right! ha) at the Parou Ballet Company in New Castle, Pa.. It was love at first sight! I remember being young and asked to run across the floor and pretend I was picking up a flower.  I knew at a young age that dance was a way to tell stories with my body and I couldn't get enough.  It came easy to me.  I could turn, jump and had high extension.  I was on pointe at 9 years old and dancing with the "big girls".  When I was 12, I moved to Pittsburgh from New Castle.  That meant a new school and new ballet school.  I started at Pittsburgh Youth Ballet and was given a part in Balanchine's Serenade the first day I was there.  All of a sudden, things started to change.  I had a hard time making friends at school and at ballet and I felt overwhelmed by all the changes in my life.  The following summer was the first summer that I auditioned for summer programs.  I was accepted to SAB and NCSA.  That summer my mother was also due to have my younger sister, Delaney.  Everyone was saying that I had to go to a summer program because it was the only way to get noticed and asked to stay for a year round program...the first step into a company.  I sat down with my Mom and told her I didn't want to go.  I waited my whole life for a sister (I had two bros up until that point) and I couldn't miss her being born.  That summer I took off from ballet and didn't go back until I was almost 17.

Yeah, I didn't do ballet at all for three years.  I didn't step back into the studio until I was 16 and a few months.  There was so much change happening in my life and I felt like the only thing I could control was quitting the thing I loved most.  I tried a lot of other things like cheerleading and drill team.  I went to high school football games and hung out at the coolest spots on Friday nights.  You know, did the "normal" thing. I was having a lot of fun, but wasn't feeling as fulfilled as I did in the ballet studio.  One random day when I was almost 17 I asked my mom if I could go back to ballet.  She about died waiting for this to happen!  I called PYB and asked them if I could come back and when I could start.  Everything was looking up! Until the first combination at the barre....what did I do to myself?!?!?

I lost my turnout, could barely finish a single pirouette and forget about extension!! I lost it all! It used to be so easy!  My body changed into a teenagers body without the refinement of ballet for those 3 years. I remember crying for months thinking I could never make it back.  But I made changes.  I started eating healthier because I was an athlete again and went to the gym to cross train.  I also applied to be the first student at my high school to take my academics early in the morning and leave to go to ballet the rest of the day.  It took almost a year to feel like I was getting back into ballet shape, but it did happen.  Two years flew by fast and it was time for me to graduate school.  I knew I wanted to dance professional but my parents were pushing me to get a college education.  I did take a lot of time off, and was still behind, so they thought it was a good idea to get additional training.  To my ballet teachers it was the final death wish.  I already pushed my luck taking so much time off, but now college?? I'd be too old when I graduated to get a job.

I ended up applying to schools and not auditioning.  I spent four years at Indiana University, Bloomington.  They have an amazing ballet program! My first year I got cast in Swan Lake as a Tall Swan and Balanchine's Four Temperaments and was coached by Julie Kent, Susan Jaffe and Susie Pillare.  Unfortunately, my sophomore year I got caught up in the "college experience" and almost blew it!  I'm telling you these things because I think it's important for young kids to understand that you will make mistakes along away and it's OK, it's what you learn from your mistakes that build your character.  I got in a lot of trouble from the ballet directors.  I didn't take care of my body and got out of shape.  In return I didn't get cast in many ballets. I was not ready to audition for companies come graduation time and was told point blank to forget about ever becoming professional.  I believed them. I ruined my own chances, again. I was happy that I would end up getting a degree because I was going to definitely need it now that my chances of being a dancer were pretty slim to none. While home in Pittsburgh the summer before my last semester at school I started to take open classes at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.  I was asked if I would be interested in training at their Graduate Program.  I could not pass up the opportunity and agreed to come, finishing my last semester at Indiana online so I could graduate.  The decision to go to PBT changed my life.

It was so hard for me at first at PBT.  I was the oldest, at 23, when everyone around me was no older than 19.   I also was severely out of shape and could barely get through variations in class.  I was most definitely the underdog.  Luckily, 23 was the year I came out of my shell!!  I was tired of hearing the word "NO" and I was determined to make my dreams come true.  I danced from 9-6pm everyday and taught ballet until 10pm every night.  I waited tables on the weekends to save money for auditions.  I never worked harder in my life then I did that year.  There were days that I felt discouraged, but I wasn't going to look back at my mistakes; I was keeping focused on this opportunity to change the path my life was on.  From January-March of that year I drove to NYC every weekend for every cattle call audition there was.  I'd get cut and didn't care, it wasn't stopping me.  A few times I heard I was too tall and few times I did hear I was too old.  I heard "NO" a million times, but it didn't matter because one "YES" was all I needed! 

Come April, I got the call from Ballet West!!!!! I was asked to join the company as an Apprentice.  Opening night of my very first professional performance was my 24th Birthday.  I was told it was never going to happen for me and there I was, ON STAGE.  In seven years, I have now worked my way up to being a Soloist. 

I am a firm believer that you are in charge of your own destiny.  I have made so many bad choices in my life but a lot of good choices, too.  I know I am very blessed to be where I am today but I assure you I was not handed any of my success.  I made mistakes, learned from them, made changes and worked my butt off to get to where I am right now at 30 years old.  A lot of you ask if it's too late for you to live out your dreams.  What's too late to you?  An age? There shouldn't be a time limit when finding happiness.  Every one's journey is different.  Mine was long and sometime hard, but I made it which means you can too!!  Everyone will have an opinion, but when it comes to you, your opinion of yourself is what matters most!! Find CONFIDENCE in who you are, gain the STRENGTH to maintain who you are, and live your life with GRACE.  To living the dream!!!

xoxo
Allison

Photo by James Glader