I was halfway through a tendu combination at the barre when my hands began to shake. I desperately looked at the clock, wanting to make the time pass faster. The mirrors in the studio were closing in on me. I was suffocating (or so I thought). I was experiencing a panic attack. It felt like […]
Elyssa Banker has been dancing at Central Park Dance in Scarsdale, NY, since she was two. At age 12, she needed a bat mitzvah project, and realized that kids less fortunate than her didn’t always have access to the supplies they needed. So, she started collecting gently used shoes at her dance studio and her […]
It all started with a question in an old issue of Pointe magazine: “I feel bad sending all of my dead pointe shoes to a landfill. Is there any way to recycle them?” When Katarina Jakimier read the answer—“Currently, there are no specific pointe shoe recycling programs”—her mind started to churn. “I really care about […]
A year ago, 12-year-old Makenna Miller was living every young dancer’s dream: She was dedicated to training at The Loudoun School of Ballet in Leesburg, VA, and was becoming a consistently successful competition star. She’s been the overall scholarship winner at conventions like NUVO and 24 Seven, and placed in the top 10 at the […]
In many ways, 23-year-old Cassandra Naud is a typical commercial dancer on the rise. She trained in a variety of dance styles from a young age, attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy’s L.A.-based College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts and hit the ground running after graduation, signing with The Movement Talent Agency (MTA) […]
Two years ago, Christina Ricucci, then 15, was living every dancer’s dream. She was training intensively at Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet Academy, Westside Dance Project and Murrieta Dance Project in Southern California. She earned top awards at competitions, including Teen Best Dancer at The Dance Awards Nationals in 2013. (She even landed on a cover […]
When dancer Georgia Bernbaum was in fifth grade, she participated in a supply drive for the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, a homeless shelter near her Orlando, FL, home. “I started thinking about what it would be like to stay at the shelter, and all the things I’d miss,” she recalls. Then it […]
Kelsie competing (courtesy Hall of Fame Dance Challenge) I was 10 when I first knew something was wrong. I was dancing at a dress rehearsal, and suddenly, without warning, I couldn’t breathe. It was terrifying. My teacher called an ambulance, and I was rushed to the emergency room. My throat had swollen shut and my […]