Sophomores Claire and Holly, who have been doing ballet for twelve years, had a recent victory when they became finalists for the Youth America Grand Prix, which is known by many for being in the movie “First Position.” They traveled to New York this April in order to participate in this worldwide ballet competition where dancers come together and compete in front of a panel of judges. In this event people of all ages and backgrounds come to New York and dance on the same stage.

However all great things start small; their first performance in Ballet was not at a worldwide stage. They recall their first “Nutcracker” performance in 2006, which marked a transition from recitals to performances. “When you are little you do your little recital at the end of the year, kind of showing what you learned. But then the “Nutcracker” is the first performance. So it’s the first production,” Holly said.

Claire recalls many new intriguing things that came along with the first production, “It’s really exciting because you get to have cool costumes and makeup. The first year we were buffoons. We were tiny little buffoons with our cute little outfits with stripey skirts.”

Compared to when they first started, their commitment to Ballet is a lot more intense. Five days a week, the twins go to their ballet studio to take classes and go to rehearsals. And although there are “levels” that mark the skill and experiences of the ballerinas Ballet is more about self-motivation. “For, you are constantly trying to work harder and harder and get better and better at everything so you never really get to a point where there is nothing you can work on. Even the professional dancers are working on stuff,” said Holly.

Personal achievements, big or small, motivate Holly and Claire to work harder. “There are always little victories. Today in class I did a triple pirouette and I landed on balance. It makes you so proud of yourself and it makes you want to do more good things.“

However, Ballet is not all about performances and competitions. Another big part of their ballet experience is the people they meet. They have made so many valuable friendships through ballet. According to Claire, “Most of the people in our level started when they were three or four… we are all so close. We’ve been with some of the girls in our class since we started and we’ve always been together.”

Each one of these friends became crucial during performances. “It’s kind of funny how if just one person, no matter how big or small their part is, if they are gone, it messes up so much other stuff,” Holly said.

While Holly and Claire’s love and commitment towards ballet is unquestionable, it also brings challenging and difficult moments. “It’s really frustrating sometimes. It causes a lot of stress,” Holly said.

Part of the cause of this stress is that there is no real way to measure your skills. “With some sports there is a way to measure how good you are. Like for crew you get a certain seat,” said Claire “But with ballet, besides competitions, there is no real way to measure how good you are. And even if you do well in the competition, that means that your performance was good...There’s really no way to gauge how good you are”.

Even considering these challenges, they have never considered doing something else. When asked if they ever wanted to quit ballet during Holly said adamantly, “No! Since we’ve been doing it our whole lives, it’s sort of become a part of our lives... The thought of not doing it is scary.”

Although they haven’t made any solid plans, they hope to continue ballet either by pursuing it professionally or through a college with a dance program. “I want to [continue ballet]. There are dance colleges out there. It’s not for sure but it will be fun,” Claire said.
However, they are open to pursuing a career in something else if they find a new interest. “Even if we stop halfway through college, still it will be a time when we can figure out ‘Oh! I’m actually really interested in this!’ So we can still have the option of doing dance or anything we want to do,” Holly said.