The season has only just started, but we at the American Youth Ballet have already hit the ground running. The beginning of the year is always kind of a crazy time, just because we’re trying to get so much stuff done- getting the company ready for the new year, getting back into shape after summer and preparing for several shows. Our first performance of the year was Dance in the Park, an annual event held in Roanoke Park. We performed a piece that we learned last year, a contemporary dance set to 1940s jazz music that we love to perform and the audience loved to watch (if their laughter is anything to go by). It was a lot of fun and a good experience for the younger kids who learned the parts of people who were no longer in the company, since they only had three weeks to learn and perfect the steps.

We’ve also been spending the last couple of weeks preparing for our first major fundraiser, One Elegant Evening. This performance features several new original pieces, which we have been learning. Even though I typically hate fundraisers, I’ve always enjoyed this performance. It’s a lot more relaxed and personal, and the dances we get to do are allowed to be a bit more experimental and creative, rather than structured ballet.

Lastly, we’re about to get started on Nutcracker. But the cast list for that show doesn’t come out until Saturday, so I’ll save it for another day.

Getting back in the swing of things is sometimes difficult at the beginning of the year, but it’s also a lot of fun to have so much to do. The variety of different styles and dances is both challenging and rewarding, and it makes this time of the year one of my favorites.