Ballet students dedicate their lives, schedules to art

As the alarm clock blasts a warning during the wee hours of the morning, any college student might be tempted to repeatedly hit "snooze." Getting up for a 10 a.m. class can be a huge struggle, not to mention the effort it would take to even think about rolling out of bed for an 8 a.m. lecture. Now imagine that struggle to get moving in the morning after dancing for more than eight hours the previous day. \nWith all the demanding physical and mental aspects that accompany the art of ballet, fellow dancers, roommates and half-sisters Courtney Fraga and Shannon Stobbe try as hard as they can to make it to those 8 a.m. classes. \n"IU has the best ballet program of any college in the country. But we both decided to come here not only for the dancing, but also for the academics," said Shannon, a freshman. \n"You have no choice but to schedule 8 a.m. classes. Our dance schedules, which are in the afternoons and evenings, allow very little time for classes past 11 a.m.," said Courtney, a sophomore dance major, who is also pursuing an outside field degree in elementary education.\nStobbe said she also plans to begin an outside field degree in psychology next year.\n"I am very interested in keeping an outside academic interest like Courtney, but I needed time to adjust to my first year of college. I'm dancing more now than I ever have in the past, with all the classes that we're required to take," Shannon said.\nBoth girls began dancing at five years old and began serious training by 10. Growing up in Detroit, Courtney and Shannon attended regular school during the day, and trained in the evenings. \n"We took part in the Michigan Ballet Theater, in Rochester Hills," Shannon said. "This was a pre-professional program that offered classes, various rehearsals and many performance opportunities.\nWe were dancing six hours a day, and we thought that was a lot. But it's nothing compared to the training at IU."\nAs full time ballet students, Courtney and Shannon begin technique classes at 11 a.m., followed by pointe classes in the afternoon, and start rehearsals for their various performances at 2 p.m. These rehearsals last until 6 p.m. most weeks, but during tech weeks of performances, they can last until 10 p.m. \n"When you're a dancer on a physically demanding schedule, it's really important to get enough sleep and to eat well," Shannon said. "We try as best we can to do that, but it's really hard to stay on a schedule in college, where many students don't adhere to any kind of schedule."\nThese past five weeks have been particularly demanding for Courtney, who is dancing the lead in the "Valse Fantasie", written by Mikhail Glinka. \n"The George Balanchine (choreographer for "Valse Fantasie") is a neo-classic dance piece, and has a lot of modern dance elements. It is the hardest piece I've ever had to dance; it's very physically demanding because you're literally dancing non-stop for 10 minutes. It's like running a marathon," Courtney said. \nWith all their hard work from the past, and the persistent, demanding training of the present, both girls have big hopes for the future. \n"We'll continue to audition (for various ballet companies) as the years go on," Shannon said. "The whole dancing situation is always up in the air, and relies greatly on your continual progress. We'd both like to dance in New York, but we know it will be very difficult and take a lot of work to get there. Ballet, all dance, is so rewarding though, that it's completely worth all the hard work"