Pennsylvania Ballet soloist Barette Vance has been dancing since she was two and a half, but she didnāt start out on a ballet track. āFor the first few years I was focused on jazz and gymnastics, like most of my friends,ā she says. āBallet was just an extra. But eventually I realized the scope and possibility of ballet, and figured out that was where my heart was.ā
Today Vanceās jazz background shines through in her performances of contemporary work like Val Caniparoliās Lambarena and the balle...
Pennsylvania Ballet soloist Barette Vance has been dancing since she was two and a half, but she didnāt start out on a ballet track. āFor the first few years I was focused on jazz and gymnastics, like most of my friends,ā she says. āBallet was just an extra. But eventually I realized the scope and possibility of ballet, and figured out that was where my heart was.ā
Today Vanceās jazz background shines through in her performances of contemporary work like Val Caniparoliās Lambarena and the ballets of PAB choreographer-in-residence Matthew Neenan. āMany of the newer ballets involve isolations of the hips and the rib cageāsomething that ballet dancers have trouble with,ā Vance says. āEven out in clubs ballerinas tend to look funny! But thanks to my jazz training, Iāve been working on those types of movements for years.ā
