Turning a nightmare into a dream.

ON THE FINAL DAY OF THE YOUTH AMERICA GRAND Prix in May, about twenty seconds into Sarah Kathryn Lane's Paquita variation, the audience at Alice Tully Hall heard the sound of audiotape crunching. After hearing some fits and starts, we realized that the tape was chewed beyond repair. Lane, of the Senior Women's Division, paused ever so briefly, then continued dancing. In the silence that followed, we could see the lovely quality of her port de bras, the strength of her leg work, and an artistic maturity beyond her 17 years. We were amazed by her courage and resolve. When she completed the variation, we rose to our feet in a spontaneous standing ovation. Not surprisingly, she won the bronze in the senior age division, and went on to win the junior women's silver medal at the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson six weeks later.

During a lunch break from classes at American Ballet Theatre's Summer Intensive, Lane admitted that she kept hoping the tape would somehow get fixed. But she reasoned, "If I stop, then I'll miss my spot in the music." When she realized it wouldn't come back on, she gave in to it. "I wasn't nervous at all the whole time I was dancing in silence. I thought, `There is nothing I can do about this, so I'm just going to do my dance because I spent forever backstage getting nervous, and I'm not going to throw this away.'"

The drama of the moment was not lost on her. "As I was doing the dance, everything was totally silent. I couldn't hear one sound except backstage, you would hear, `Shhhh, shhhh.' I could see out of the corner of my eye that everyone was standing in the wings with their eyes on me, and there wasn't a sound in the room but `Shhhhh.'"

Lane started dancing at age 4 at a community center in Memphis, Tennessee, and then went to Classical Ballet Memphis. Before she turned 11, her family moved, and she began serious study at the Draper Center for Dance Education in Rochester, New York, with Timothy Draper (who was named Outstanding Teacher at Youth America Grand Prix).

This is the first year that Sarah has competed. It was hard on her family financially--she cites airfare and costumes as the biggest expenses--but they supported her with their time and energy. Going to the competitions turned out to be a good experience for her. She learned a lot from taking classes from other teachers, and she enjoyed the camaraderie and the excitement her success brought to the other dancers from the school. "I think that you can't really get through this dance career if you aren't supportive of each other," she said.

Her advice to competition hopefuls? "Don't go into competition only to win the prize, because the main prize isn't the medal. It's getting the experience of performing and learning what your strengths are and how you need to improve as a dancer. Don't go there to get a gold medal, because then you set yourself up for disappointment."

Another "prize" she won is a place in American Ballet Theatre's studio company. She had auditioned in March but was not accepted. But after her performance at YAGP, where ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie was in the audience, she was invited to take company class again and was given a contract.

At 5' 2", she worries that she may not be right for every company. But nothing can dampen her dance spirit. "It's such a joy to go out there and have a chance to express something I can't express with words. I want the audience to feel what I feel when I dance." Giselle is her favorite role, and to do it someday is her dream. Considering her love of ballet, excellent training, and calm inner strength, that day may come soon.