Erica is 14 years old and dances at Lebanon Ballet School and The Indiana Ballet Conservatory. She has played the role of a Rose in Sleeping Beauty, and most recently, a Snowflake and a Mirliton in May's production of The Nutcracker. She has taken classes in Irish Stepdancing, modern dance, and hip-hop. Her other hobbies include reading, writing, baking, and spending time with friends and family.
"I think I have always liked ballet, but I never really got into it until May of 2010, which is when we saw the Coppelia ballet recital-- at that point I knew I wanted to take lessons. I wanted to partly because all my friends were, but also, I thought it looked fun. I thought it would be awesome to do a recital, and I'm not gonna lie... I thought it might be cool if I could do the splits. :)
When my parents told us we could do ballet, we all started screaming and running crazily around the house and we put on dress-up leotards and did things that we thought it seemed like ballerinas might do (which of course were not like ballet at all!)"
I love doing ballet because it's fun and interesting and it's a challenge. Also, I don't feel like I'm good at too many things, but when I dance, I can kind of feel good about myself.
"In my first recital, I was a rose in Sleeping Beauty. I can't remember what I thought when I heard what I was going to be, but I think it was a good part for me to play. I was in the dance with like twenty other girls and in the back row, which was a good thing since I'd only been dancing for about a year at that point! :D I wasn't really nervous on stage... I mean I was during the dress rehearsal, but not during the real thing. I just remember the stage lights being really bright, and I just kind of danced and did my best without thinking about about the fact that I was on stage. Then I was really relaxed afterwards... well, still excited, but relaxed... it's kind of hard to explain."
"In my second recital, which was the Nutcracker, I remember thinking once about getting the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Then I was like, 'No... but maybe Courtney will!' Also, in many Nutcracker ballets, the part of Clara is played by a young girl until she goes to the Land of Sweets, then a slightly older girl plays the part. I wondered if I might get the part of the older Clara. When Miss Hume told me I was going to be a mirliton, I was like 'What is that?' Then I learned later what they were, and I was happy with the part."
"I was also a snowflake, which I enjoyed."
"IBC (Indianapolis Ballet Conservatory) was WAAAAAY different from Lebanon... for one thing we had to learn things a lot quicker, also most of the teachers were Russian so it was hard to get used to their accents. I did like most of them though. It was funny, they kept forgetting my name, one of the teachers called me 'Emilia' throughout the whole intensive. Also, a bunch of girls came over from Japan to take the intensive and they didn't speak English, but they were the greatest! They were all sooo sweet. So, some of the things we learned were brise, double pirouettes en pointe, entrechat six and adagio, and we also danced pas de deux (a dance with a male partner) for the first time."
(Doing a modern dance piece at IBC)
"I would really like to be a professional dancer. I think it would be too expensive to pay my way, so I've thought about trying to get into YAGP (Youth American Grand Prix) in a few years, because I would love to get a scholarship."
"I hope to get married and have a lot of children and homeschool them. Also I want to be an editor. I hope to go to college and major in dance and minor in English."
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