Today we’d like to introduce you to Caroline Arnold.
Caroline, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Most young girls’ first experience with professional ballet is a trip to see the holiday classic The Nutcracker, however, my journey began at the age of eight when my mom took me to see my first ballet, Miami City Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet. I left the Kravis Performing Arts Center that night not with dreams of sugarplums dancing in my head, but with dreams of Juliet dancing in my head, and I knew then I wanted someday to become a professional ballet dancer. I studied between 10 and 12 hours a week through elementary school in Florida and added about 10 more hours of class and rehearsal time when we moved to the Dallas Fort Worth area.
I auditioned for the Houston Ballet Academy when I was a junior in high school and danced in residence there, then auditioned and received a scholarship to attend college at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. In my junior year at IU, I decided to audition for companies to get a sense of what was out there in the ballet world for the following year when I would graduate. Much to my surprise, Kansas City Ballet offered me a contract and my life as a professional ballet dancer began. After a few years with Kansas City Ballet, I joined Ballet West in Salt Lake City. I loved dancing in the states but also loved dancing the classics, La Bayadere, Swan Lake, Giselle, Le Corsaire, many of which just aren’t danced as often in the U.S. so I decided to travel to Europe and audition for companies over there. I traveled all over Europe by myself for two months that spring auditioning everywhere from Monaco to Estonia, Germany, Slovakia and Austria. I was told by some companies I was not the right fit, I was too tall (I am 5’ 8”) or that I danced “too American”, and other companies that did offer me contracts did not feel like the right fit to me. I finally auditioned for Romanian National Ballet in Bucharest, Romania, and I knew the moment I met the other dancers and company class began that this would be my new home. I was offered a contract and returned to the States and packed my two largest suitcases and moved 6,000 miles away to a country where I didn’t speak the language and I would be one of just two American dancers.
My roommate was from France and in the evenings we would teach each other our native language. I enjoyed getting to know the customs of Romania and dancing and getting to know the many other dancers from Romania, Japan, Italy and Germany. We danced between 40 and 60 hours a week, dancing so many different ballets with several performances each month, but unfortunately, the rigorous schedule was just too much for my body to handle. I had to leave the Romanian National Ballet at the beginning of my 2nd year due to labrum tears in both of my hips. When I returned to the States I received multiple cortisone shots and continued to train back with the intention of returning to Romania, but the pain was just too much to bear and so I retired.
My family had moved to Aledo from McKinney while I was away and when I got here, I had the same feelings for Aledo that I had the day I auditioned for Romanian National Ballet. I knew that I wanted to call this town my home. I tried various jobs the first months back, but my heart and passion were still with ballet. Because Aledo did not have a classical ballet studio, I decided one day last November, I would like to hold a six-week Nutcracker workshop and see what kind of response I would get. I had hoped for 10 to 15 students to get started and was quite pleased after just a few days of advertising my idea on facebook that I had 26 students for the six-week workshop. That is when I decided to open Aledo Academy of Ballet. In January, I moved to the location we are in now and we had our first full semester last spring. Opening my own studio was never my intention but I couldn’t be happier! I now teach 37 classes a week, do the accounting, registration, marketing for the studio, costume mistress, rehearsal mistress and just about any job that needs to be done around here. I am looking into becoming a nonprofit with my studio company and look forward to this new challenge. I teach just under 100 students and am continuing to grow.
My journey has been quite amazing, traveling all over the United States and Europe auditioning for and performing with ballet companies, but I am so happy to have had the opportunity to open Aledo Academy of Ballet and even more than that, so happy to call Aledo my home.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The opening of my studio has been a smooth road, from the very beginning everything has just fallen into place. It has felt very God-driven. There are, of course, the struggles of juggling all the jobs that go along with running your own studio by yourself from being the cleaning lady to the teacher, the accountant to the rehearsal director, the costume mistress to the Sugar Plum Fairy as we don’t have an old enough student yet to fill that role in our upcoming production of The Nutcracker, but I have a very supportive family that has helped me every step of the way.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Aledo Academy of Ballet story. Tell us more about it.
Aledo Academy of Ballet’s mission is to encourage dancers to find and express their individuality, artistry, and grace through the art of ballet, and to inspire a love for the arts among the dancers and in our community. I specialize in the art of classical ballet. I have been dancing for 25 years, professionally for six years, and have been teaching ballet for 12 years. I have danced in both American and European companies, so I have a very wide spectrum of teachers, mentors, and different techniques of ballet I have been exposed to and learned from.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I am lucky that I have an extremely supportive family that has helped me as I get my business off the ground.
Contact Info:
- Address: 10303 E. Bankhead Hwy. Suite 102B
Aledo, TX 76008 - Website: www.aledoacademyofballet.org
- Phone: (817)682-5984
- Email: aledoacademyofballet@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/aledo_academy_of_ballet/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/aledoacademyballet/
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/aledo-academy-of-ballet-aledo
Image Credit:
Sara McAuliffe Arnold
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