RSB featured in Pointe Magazine!

“Your Training: Hometown Advantage” by Ashley Rivers

Pointe Magazine (October/November 2011) features an article about training at a small number of high-quality studios — including ours! Here’s an excerpt, but check out the whole article in the link above.

It’s the American dream, ballet-style: A small-town girl works hard, turns heads in the big city and wins her way to the top of a world-class company. Teresa Reichlen is one such story: Before joining New York City Ballet, she studied at The Russell School of Ballet in Chantilly, VA. “It’s nice to be a big fish in a small pond to start out,” she says. Instead of always dancing in the corps, “you get to perform the challenging parts.”

Several small studios around the country are producing professional-caliber dancers. These schools may not receive the same publicity as their counterparts with companies or boarding schools attached, but they prove that you don’t need high-profile training to make it as a dancer. In fact, the extra attention, performance opportunities and lower-stress environment might be what you need to grow—not just as a dancer, but as an artist.

 

The Russell School of Ballet 
Chantilly, VA
Directors Karla and Hans Petry, the husband and wife team at The Russell School, offer a nurturing environment, and students and teachers become close in this tight-knit community.
Classes: Ballet, pointe, variations, character, jazz, tap, modern, lyrical, stretch
Number of students: 375–400 (audition required for higher-level classes)
Performances per year: Three
Competitions: No
Alumni: Teresa Reichlen (NYCB principal), Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch (Martha Graham Dance Company principal), Ian Thatcher (formerly with SFB, PNB and Ballets de Monte Carlo)
Fun fact: The school is beginning its 51st year.