TURNING CHILDHOOD ENERGY INTO ART VAN NUYS TEEN ON HIS WAY TO DANCE IN LONDON.

Byline: RICK COCA Valley News Staff

Dylan Gutierrez was a kid who just couldn't sit still. When his mother, Andrea Paris-Gutierrez, taught dance classes, she would haul her ever-in- motion toddler along with her to the studio.

``When I was teaching, he would usually be sitting on the side,'' Paris- Gutierrez said. ``But since he's hyperactive, I thought I should include him in the class so he wouldn't drive me crazy.''

Today, Dylan, 16, of Van Nuys, has proven he's figured out what to do with all that energy. This fall he'll attend the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London, making him one of just a few non-British citizens selected each year to attend the highly selective school.

His mother is a New Zealand native, and his father, Iker Gutierrez, is a musician from Mexico. Dylan grew up in the United States. As a child, Dylan excelled at basketball. At the same time, he was getting better and better in mom's dance class.

``He made an announcement in the car one day,'' Paris-Gutierrez said.

``I'm not going to play basketball anymore,'' Dylan told his parents. ``I'm going to concentrate on dance.''

Attending Pacoima Middle School, young Gutierrez withstood the typical razzing male ballet dancers often receive from classmates.

``I had to deal with everybody calling me gay and whatever,'' Dylan said. ``And I'm the one dancing with girls in leotards and tights, and they were the ones playing football and basketball with a bunch of sweaty guys.''

Dylan attended Valley Alternative High School in Van Nuys, a magnet school, and managed to keep his dancing under wraps for a time.

``I tried to keep the whole dancing thing (quiet) at Valley Alternative, but by the end of the year everybody knew, and everybody was cool with it,'' Gutierrez said.

Now that he's on his way to the Royal Ballet School, keeping his dancing secret will prove difficult. Gutierrez and his mother said that the school has a 98-percent success rate of getting graduates hired by some of the most respected dance companies throughout the world.

Gutierrez said he'll enter the school as a junior. After he graduates, he'll tour with his graduating class for a year. After that, the professional offers usually pour in.

Dylan's mother danced professionally before establishing the Los Angeles Ballet Academy, now located in Reseda with 250 students and 14 teachers. She said growing up in her native New Zealand, the Royal Ballet School in London seemed like such an impossibility. A far- fetched dream. A fantasy.

``For him to have the opportunity to go, it's really exciting for all of us,'' Paris-Gutierrez said.

Dylan's road to success was fueled in part by his incredible energy.

``He seemed to have this unlimited supply of energy to work on something until he got it,'' Paris-Gutierrez said of her son, who's also taught himself to play the drums. ``(It) worked in his favor eventually. Now that's he's older, he can harness it. I think (his energy) was his best friend rather than his enemy, in the long run.''

For Dylan, dedicating hours, days, years to dance was simple.

``I like performing better than anything,'' he said.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Dylan Gutierrez of Van Nuys has turned his boundless energy into a spot at the Royal Ballet School in London.

Rose Eichenbaum/Special to the Valley News