Young Dancer Profile Episode 2: Kate Orr!

Kate Orr is 14 years old and dances at Lebanon Ballet School.  She has played the role of a doll in Coppelia, a Silver Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, and most recently The Columbine Doll in May's production of The Nutcracker. She also enjoys Irish Stepdancing.  Her other hobbies include watching movies, drawing, reading, chatting with friends and crafting.

 

 

"I've been dancing ever since I can remember. We have very old pictures of me dressed up in  a pink leotard doing some strange 'dance' moves, and videos where I am obviously imagining myself as a famous dancer."  :D

 

 

 

  "I've always loved dancing for many reasons: I love moving around, (I'm afraid I'm not very patient) and dancing is a very emotional and expressive way of acting and telling a story without words. Sometimes I think when we try to say something, it can be taken the wrong way. Or for instance, there are tons of homonyms in the English vocabulary and it can be pretty confusing. Dancing is just more...emotional, and it can express  things that we may not know how to say."

 

(2014)

"Surprisingly enough, I never asked my parents if I could take ballet. I never really thought about it.

    I very clearly remember when Mom and Dad told me I could take ballet with my 4 sisters, (None of us had ever taken ballet before, anywhere.) It was pretty late at night, and we were all in bed, at the time we all 5 shared a room, and Mom and Dad came in to say goodnight. Well, they told us they had a surprise and we spent a little while guessing: 'Are we getting a horse?!'  'Are we getting a puppy?!' 'Are you having a baby?!!!!!'  'Does it have to do with horses?!'  'No. No. No. No.... you are going to take ballet!' We were all so excited, you can probably imagine all the squealing and thank-you's...

 
I still remember feeling so cool and grown up in my caked on stage makeup and my little Coppelia doll costume. We had some friends over the day of the dress rehearsal so they could come and watch. My friends were so excited and I remember feeling totally mature and big-girlish, at the time I'd just turned ten."

(2010)

     "I always feel more emotional when I'm dancing. It just feels so amazing to imagine you fingers as paintbrushes, to move your arms elegantly. People don't usually just act elegant nowadays. I also love how working hard and having a good work ethic pays off so, so much! If some girls aren't working hard and others are, you can tell. To me that just means a lot, it seems fair in a very good way."

 

"I have loved each performance so much, the hard work and preparations are almost as fun as the recital!"

 

(2012)

 

"This year we did the Nutcracker, (my third recital) which was a huge blast! I had no idea what I would be. Maybe some type of candy ;-D But I was super excited when I found out I'd be one of the dolls, one reason being that it would be my first solo, even though it was short!"

"For a super long time I knew I wanted to be a professional ballerina, which I still think would be really fun, but I'm pretty much waiting to decide until I'm closer to being done.... I still have four years to go"   :)