In a Student's Words...

I learn so much from the students I teach; they are incredibly intelligent, talented and creative. One of my students had an assignment to write an "artistic statement" about her life as a dancer. I'd like to share this piece written by Kate Montgomery, an 8th grader, and offer a glimpse of just one of the special things that I witness each day a in my role as a Middle School teacher at Greensboro Day School. – Pamela Thaxton, MS Learning Resource Specialist 



Artistic Statement
By: Kate Montgomery ’17

Blue, this is the color ballet would be, not pink not black, blue. Why is it blue you might ask? It is blue because it is light and airy yet strong and vibrant. Blue is one of those colors with seemingly endless shades that can literally be interpreted into any form, story, or emotion. This all depends on two points, the eyes of the observer and the feelings of the performer, and we can only hope that our feelings are dusted over the audience. The ability to take physical movements and turn them into a story or emotion takes someone with a wild imagination. To be able to share this sensation with an audience is what makes it an art. Ballet to me is that one place where you can say everything by simply raising an arm and touching it to your forehead, just as the corp girls in the first movement of Serenade so beautifully do. All of this because of a connection that you have between your body, your mind, and the observer; you first begin this connection when you are a child with a dream that will soon become an ambition.

Almost every little girl goes to ballet class and can't help but dream of being a Ballerina. Then the technique begins and suddenly that giddy feeling goes away. For me, my love for this art only grew stronger. As soon as the time came to begin working on our technique I was all in, and became more and more excited to go to dance. At Greensboro Ballet this meant moving up to Mr.D's class (John Dennis), and for many it seemed to be the scariest thing in the world, including me. However, his classes made me want to see what else was out there in the ballet world, so for Christmas that year my parents took my brother and I to New York City. While I was there my mom took me to see New York City Ballet's Nutcracker, where I got to meet one of the dancers who danced in the snow corp. I remember taking a picture with her and thinking how much I wanted to be her. I could barely sit in my seat as I watched the dancers fly across the snow covered stage in there long tulle skirts and pink shiny point shoes. My young seven year old self couldn't help but think how one day I would be there with my own pair of pink shiny point shoes. From then on, I worked as hard as physically possible. The summer of 2011, when I was attending Greensboro Ballet's summer intensive, I knew it was all going to pay off one day. The idea of waking up in the morning and knowing that my job would be to do what I loved suddenly became the only thing I could ever picture myself doing, and that's when I knew that this is what I was meant to do.

Dance, drenched in a pallet with beautiful shades of blue, a pallet that each person sees differently, the artist is to take their paint brush and create their desired shade. In other words, it is like a blank sheet of paper with guidelines and basic rules, but what you decide to do with it is up to you because every dance is like a new story or emotion just waiting to be unleashed. Sometimes the story is given to you and it is your job to bring it to life, other times you have to search for the story and let your imagination run wild. For when I dance I get that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you come home after a long trip and you finally sink into your own bed; that feeling of pure joy that overflows your veins and is released through your limbs. It empowers me to slip on those practically magical point shoes and show the audience what I can do and how happy I am to show them. It is that itch that you always feel the need to scratch, that one thing you dream about at night hoping it will only bring the moment where you can feel free and alive that much closer. I'm in a deep relationship with dance and we are in it for the long run.

Olga Lepeshinaskya, one of my favorite ballet dancers, was a principal with the Bolshoi Ballet in the 1940's. However, she recently died of old age. I first came to know about this once extraordinary dancer when I was nine years old waiting for class to begin. I looked up and saw a black and white picture of a seemingly happy dancer posing in attitude. Under the picture in black ink was typed a name that was obviously Russian with a particularly daunting last name. I sounded out the name that gave me such joy to pronounce. When my ballet teacher John Dennis walked up behind me while I was telling some of the other dancers about Olga, Mr. D told me a little bit about her. From then on, I was fascinated with the smiling petite Russian girl who could captivate an audience by throwing herself into the air and twirling across the stage with her massive pique turns. While looking at videos of Olga, I stumbled upon a full length recording of Balanchine's classic Swan Lake, this being my favorite ballet being performed by one of my favorite companies, I couldn't resist. I clicked play and was quickly put into a trance by the gorgeous choreography of the White Swan Pas de Deux into Odettes solo, a role I have always dreamed of portraying. For you are given the chance to show much diversity by playing two roles, Odette and Odile, who performs my favorite Pas De Deux, the Black Swan Pas De Deux, a Pas where Odile transforms into a sassy black swan who tricks prince Zigfried into thinking that she is his one love, Odette. What made watching this magnificent ballet even more spectacular, were the beautiful dancers of ABT, a company that I have come to love after watching endless videos of Misty Copeland, Gillian Murphy and so many more amazing dancers I can hardly resist the urge to someday be up there with them. There is just something about their dancers that just pops on stage with everything from superb technique to flawless stage presence. This company is a place I would like to someday make my destination after a long journey. One tool I have used to better my training is to get inspiration from ballets, dancers, and companies. When you know where you want to land it makes taking off that much easier.

"Always have a secret". These were words spoken by my ballet teacher, Mary Helen Mayfield. One day in class she told us to always have a little secret while we were dancing; something that the audience doesn't know, allowing you to perform and for the audience to not take their eyes off of you. Mrs. Mayfield's secret was always that she had a ruby in her tutu, my secret is that I have a little bird behind my ear that whispers all the steps to me. When my little birdie tells me what the steps are, it is then my job to show off the steps in beautiful shades of blue. This is a job that takes a large amount of imagination, passion, and a little birdie that tells you all the steps. That is why I dance.