Beyond ballet: two devoted ballet students explain their transitions to modern dance.

I only thought I'd be a ballet dancer," says Sara Lepere. "I had never even considered anything else." Two years ago Sara was well on her way to achieving her goal, after moving to New York from California just after high school and landing a position with Joffrey II Concert Dancers. Determined to succeed, she immersed herself in the company, taking three or four classes a day at the Joffrey school and rehearsing and performing at night.

Disaster struck one afternoon in rehearsal, when Sara felt a shooting pain from her foot up to her calf. "It was never diagnosed," she says. "I saw six different doctors and had MRIs and bone scans done -- everything. All of the doctors told me to stop dancing. They told me my foot wasn't made to dance."

She was devastated. "I just couldn't imagine not dancing. For about three months I sat at home completely depressed, trying to figure out what to do with my life."

At Joffrey Sara had also studied jazz, and, thinking back, she remembered that the less controlled movements hadn't put the some strain on her foot. "I started thinking about the idea of going into Broadway-style dance -- musical theater. I tried it, and my foot doesn't hurt in three-inch heels." Around the same time, she saw the musical Chicago and fell in love with the choreography of Bob Fosse, which cemented her decision.

When she started taking classes, a new world opened up. "Everything's different, from dancing in heels to wearing tan tights for auditions to having my hair down in class. I was such a bunhead I'd never opened my mouth, so now I'm taking voice lessons."

She also discovered that theater dance, especially Fosse's choreography, was just as physically and artistically challenging as ballet. "In ballet, people always say that ballet is the best, that there are other art forms, but they are not as serious as ballet. But I've found that theater dance is just as difficult and there is a lot more to work with than I had thought. I take classes at Steps on Broadway and from Chet Walker and Michael Owens at Broodway Dance Center with all of the performers from Broadway shows. Chet does a lot of Fosse, and as many times as you try, you never get it. Even Chet has been doing it twenty years and still can't get it. For some reason, as awkward as the movement is, it feels so right and there's so much style; the littlest movement can do so much. If a Fosse show came back, I would love to do it."

Although she no longer takes ballet classes, she considers her years of training as having been essential. "So much of Fosse's style has strong ballet background in it, so having the training makes a lot of difference. Few musical-theater dancers have ballet backgrounds. At every audition I go to they give a basic ballet combination, and half of the people are cut out immediately."

Paradoxically, Sara occasionally struggles against being typecast as a ballerina. "The whole Joffrey thing sometimes hurts me at auditions because people think, `She's just a ballet dancer who can't do anything else.' At a Chorus Line audition, I actually heard them say that about me when all we had done was a double pirouette and said our name. I was cut because they thought that was all I could do. But if I had studied somewhere else where there isn't such a strong jazz influence as at Joffrey, I don't think I would have been able to make the transition as well."

She has reason to be confident about her future in musical theater. "I make it to the final cut of almost ever audition; it's the singing that I have to work on. But I'm also one of the youngest. Most of the people auditioning are between twenty-three and twenty-six years old."

Her advice to young dancers? "It's worth looking at the other styles besides ballet. There are a lot out there and they are just as valid as ballet."

When I was fourteen years old, my ballet school required me to take modern dance class, and even though the class met only once a week, I hated it! At the time, I thought that anything other than ballet was a waste of time because I was sure I was going to be a ballet dancer and dance in pointe shoes. I was convinced that as a ballerina, I would never be asked to perform modern dance.

After high school, I decided to go to Juilliard, because of its reputation for training young dance students and because I didn't feel technically or emotionally prepared to join a company. In college, I studied Taylor, Graham, and Limon techniques with a prestigious faculty that included Benjamin Harkarvy, Hector Zaraspe, Linda Kent, and Jeanne Ruddy. In these courses, I was encouraged to develop my own personality onstage while still working on technique, strength, and control. Soon after, I threw out my pointe shoes and began performing only modern dance pieces! I no longer felt the same desire to perform Swan Lake or Nutcracker and wanted the experience of dancing roles in the modern dance repertory. As a student I enjoyed dancing Paul Taylor's Esplanade, Robert Battle's Distance Nowhere, and Strays, by Lila York.

However, as a professional dancer I soon realized that didn't necessarily have to choose between modern and ballet. Currently there are few companies that fit solely into the category of "ballet" company or "modern" company. Most companies in the U.S. and around the world perform all types of repertory by choreographers with contrasting styles. In a repertory dance company, dancers might spend a week performing Romeo and Juliet, choreographed by their own artistic director, and in the next week dance Paul Taylor's Company B, Lila York's Rapture, or Kenneth MacMillan's Rite of Spring.

When cast in dances such as these, dancers with even basic modern dance training always stand out. In other words, they are noticed and chosen to perform. For these reasons, dancers today must be open-minded, focused, and strong. They must possess a versatility that allows them to be fearless when asked to dance in a way to which they are not accustomed.

In my experience, all of a dancer's work starts in one place: the ballet class. During the years I concentrated on building the modern dance repertory I needed, I continued to study ballet on a daily basis to supplement the more weighted, athletic strength I wanted to acquire as a modern dancer. Modern and ballet training are as similar as they are different; and they are complementary, providing student's with the tools to become a well-rounded dancer, physically, mentally, and artistically.

With a strong ballet background and the maturity to accept and apply corrections, a dancer can perform any form of dance technique he or she chooses. Discovering the freedom of modern dance as a student gave me a wider technique to help me work with a variety of choreographers.