To excel as a ballerina, Skylar Lippincott, 17, of Thermopolis, Wyoming said you must learn to ignore the pain and push yourself beyond your limits.
“It's a big misconception that ballet is easy,” Lippincott said. “It looks easy but it's so complex because you have to be paying attention to what your body is doing and counting your music at the same time.”
In the Cowboy State when most female athletes are in rodeo or pursuing volleyball and track, Lippincott said that being a ballerina requires nerves of steel and should not be discounted since it is a tough sport.
“A lot of people don't know how difficult it is on your body,” Lippincott said. “It's definitely a full-time commitment that you have to dedicate your entire life to.”
Athletic Competition
When Lippincott decided in her junior year of high school that she was going to get serious about ballet and make dance her life, she had to put together an audition tape and send it around to various summer intensive programs.
The resulting 10-minute video featured techniques not known to the general public such as Barre Work; Pliés, Tendu, Rond De Jambe, Fondu, and Grand Battement.
After all her hard work, Lippincott was crushed when she failed to get into her school of choice, the Oklahoma School of Dance. Instead of quitting, her mom encouraged her to keep trying and more no’s rolled in. The competition was tough, and, in the end, Lippincott was accepted into not one, but two dance programs, Ballet Chicago and a school in Anaheim, California.
She chose the school in Illinois since it was rated as one of the top 10 in the nation.
Once she was accepted, the hard work intensified. Lippincott’s instructor, Tess Williams, put together a workout plan that included private lessons, strength training at the gym and constant training. Lippincott attended an intensive in Cody that prepared her both physically and mentally for the challenges of working with other serious ballerinas.
When Lippincott attended the Chicago school over the summer, she was pushed even harder than ever as an official pre-professional ballerina.
“It was hell,” Lippincott said. “It was so much work, and I loved it.”
The dancers would practice from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. six days a week over a five-week period.
For Lippincott, a student used to the relative quiet of Wyoming, it was hard to sleep which added to the intensity of the program. Chicago with its sirens and trains kept her up at night, tossing and turning, as she tried to prepare for the next day of dance.
“There's a lot of it has blurred in my brain,” Lippincott said. “My body was fatigued, and I had to learn really intricate combinations I had never done before.”
All the hard work paid off. Towards the end of the five weeks, Lippincott was pulled out of class and given a special invitation to train at the school year-round. Elated, she now intends to spend the last semester of her senior year at the school and learn from some of the best teachers in the nation. ...
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
