Sophomore finds passion for ballet through rigorous practice

For five weeks last summer, sophomore Alex Lee spent day after day pushing her body to its limit at Boston Ballet’s summer intensive program. Lee spent several hours, Monday through Friday, attending classes where she strived to improve her skills through doing barre work, dancing on pointe, learning variations (solo dances) and partnering, in which guys and girls dance together.

“It was a huge step for me because I had never done anything like this before,” Lee said.

When she was just 6, Lee’s parents enrolled her in a ballet class at Los Gatos Ballet. She ended up loving it and stuck with ballet ever since.

For Lee, the dancing gives her the opportunity to express herself and destress.

“Dancing blocks [out] the outside world and takes my mind away from all the stress at school, at least for a short time,” Lee said.

Lee’s list of repertoire is extensive, having danced in “The Nutcracker,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Cinderella,” “Swan Lake,” and “Alice in Wonderland” multiple times. Recently, as her skills have improved, Lee has had the opportunity to dance some of the more prominent roles.

“A couple years ago I started dancing [the roles of] snow and flower in ‘The Nutcracker,’ I always saw the older girls dancing these parts together,” Lee said. “I've also enjoyed dancing soldierette doll because it was basically my first short solo.”

Lee hopes to have the opportunity to dance the roles of the Snow Queen or the Dew Drop Fairy by senior year, which are two of the more renowned solo roles within “The Nutcracker.”

Though she has improved greatly since she first started dancing as a toddler, Lee still struggles to overcome barriers in her technique.

“Everything is hard in ballet,” Lee said. “You can't show up and not work your hardest. Personally, I struggle with more of the artistry because I'm a perfectionist, and that's why my technique is on the stronger side.”

Not only is ballet physically taxing, the amount of time and effort that must be put into learning repertoire and consequently, taken away from school, can be stressful. The upside of the overwhelming stress is that Lee has forged strong friendships with other dancers.

“I'm super close with my ballet friends because we've been through so much together,” Lee said. “There are a ton of ups and downs, so we're always there for each other.”

Though Lee does not plan to dance professionally, she does want to keep ballet in her life as long as possible and will continue to dance with Los Gatos Ballet through her senior year.

“It's fun to watch my growth and see what parts I get each year,” Lee said. “I can always look forward to dancing a new role.”