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We sat down with Henry “Hank” Lichtmacher, Sreya Sathish-Kumar and JiaLi Deck, three members of the board of directors of the Columbia University Ballet Collective, the school’s oldest student-run ballet company, which is marking its 20th year. All came up through serious pre-professional training at places like Ellison Ballet, City Ballet San Francisco, ABT JKO and Houston Ballet II.
The three discussed how they raise most of a roughly $40,000 budget, rent theaters off campus and hire the choreographers who create new work for the company each semester. Well-known choreographer, Justin Peck, staged one of his first works here. Off the stage, the company runs a free weekly class on campus, teaches ballet in New York City public schools and organizes the Ivy Ballet Exchange.
We also talked about college applications. Most admissions readers don’t know much about ballet, so how you describe your training, what goes in your dance supplement and who writes your recommendations all matter.They also shared how they handled the transition from full-time training to dancing as an extracurricular. JiaLi is now a dance major, while Hank and Sreya dance far less. Interestingly, all three told us that dance is more fun now than it was when they were in serious pre-pro training.
CBC’s fall gala is December 5 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. Follow @columbia.ballet.collaborative for details.
Links:
- Summer Intensive Boot Camp
- Submit Ballet Competition Reviews
- Read Our Ballet School Summer & Year-Round Reviews
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Music from #Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/ian-aisling/new-future License code: MGAW5PAHYEYDQZCI