New York: LaGuardia High School - only 66 eight-graders yearly out of 1,000 are admitted to the LaGuardia HS of Music & Art and the Performing Arts; the daily schedule is described - Young Dancers - Brief Article

Dance Magazine, Nov, 1997 by Alexandria Dionne

Life at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts is not about banging on lunch trays and impromptu dancing on lunchroom tabletops as the 1980 movie Fame would lead you to believe. In fact, as Rachel Hazelwood, a senior in the dance department, puts it, "It's just simple ol' lunch. People are talking trash; I've never seen anyone dance on the tables." Actually, for some of the dance department enrollees, taking a lunch break is a luxury. Most of these kids are busy from 7:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M., five days a week. They don't have time to waste messing around in a lunchroom; they've gotta dance.

Strutting your stuff at LaGuardia is an earned privilege, and a competitive one at that. More than 1,000 eighth graders from New York's five boroughs apply each year to LaGuardia's dance division, and only 66 talented individuals make it. In a very democratic process, every applicant performs a one-minute solo of any style of dance--faculty have seen everything from karate and break dancing to gymnastics. The chosen ones are selected based on their academic performance and, more important, on their dance ability and passion for the art. Prospective students will live in the dance studios for the next four years, so they need to be ready to eat, drink, and breathe dance.

The daily schedule of three dance classes and five academic--including nutrition, anatomy, dance injury, English, math, and history--can be grueling, and by the end of the freshman year the body count often drops to 65 or 64, in which case another audition is held to fill those spots. "Freshman and sophomore year you're getting adjusted and getting your technique down," says Sara Vasiliou, a senior at LaGuardia. The strict regimen helps students learn to set priorities and even helps improve their grades.

"The discipline of dance can help in academics," says Rachel. "A lot of people have left since the freshman year; they couldn't take the criticism or the responsibility. Those who survived think it was worth it. Discipline is very important. If everyone [the teachers and classmates] lets you slack off, it's more hazardous to yourself." And as Chellamar Bernard, a 17-year-old senior, points out, "Ms. Mathesius [the dance department director] sees your report card before you do. If you fail, she'll call your parents."

Despite the stressful workload, the students still manage--and are encouraged--to take dance classes at outside studios. Some get summer or semester scholarships, which occasionally lead to premature departures from the school in junior year. "We do have some who leave in their third year, who are asked to be in a company," says Mathesius. "We don't encourage that, but some are that talented." In fact, she says that half of the dancers in Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater are LaGuardia alumni.

As hard as they work, people still don't give the students any respect. Some of them get flak from teachers and friends for going to an "alternative" high school. "People don't take this school seriously," says Rachel. "The static I got from my teachers [at the public school] you wouldn't believe it. One teacher told me, `Dancing is not a career.' My objective is to prove them wrong."

"We don't get it any easier because we specialize [in dance]," says Dana Ingraham, a senior who also has a three-year scholarship to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. "When I told friends I wanted to come here [to LaGuardia], one person told me, `Dancers are tall, and you're kinda short.' I know one girl who regrets not coming here."

Causing regrets is not the goal of the school, which opened its doors in 1936. But rather, in the words of former Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who founded the school, the hope is "to provide a facility where the most gifted and talented public school students of New York City could pursue their talents in art or music while also completing a comprehensive academic program of instruction." By the looks of it, that goal is being accomplished, with many of the graduates joining such esteemed companies as the Mark Morris Dance Group, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Elisa Monte Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, and New York City Ballet.

"It's not unrealistic for them to be placed," says Mathesius, but she encourages students who want a long dance career to consider different styles of dance. "We want them to open their eyes and see what different types of dance there are, like dancing in theme parks, on MTV, and in circuses, as well as in modern companies. There are many careers in dance, and for these kids the opportunities are numerous, as long as they know where they'll excel. But of course they all must take ballet and modern because that will only make you a teeter dancer in the long run."

The future bodes well for these students, and whether they take the college route or start hoofing right after graduation, they realize the importance of keeping their options open. "I'm concentrating on keeping my grades up," says Dana. "I would like to go to a college that's strong in dance as well as academics. Eventually I want to be an entertainer--period. Right now I'm focusing on dance. I love to entertain people; I love to see their reactions. When I first saw Ailey, I thought they were dancing for me." Maybe someday we'll see Dana and her colleagues on a stage dancing for us.