Watching the Olympics is always inspiring for young kids who dream of having a gold medal around their neck someday.
For Jesuit senior Amelia Kowalewski, Olympic figure skating inspired her to pursue a professional dance career, a goal that she is already achieving as a high school student.
The world of professional ballet is known to have a bad reputation for the most part. Dancers are remarkably underpaid, overworked, and only one in a thousand end up as a Principal dancer—the lead of the company. Even if they manage to snag a job as a Soloist or above, the glory is short-lived. The retirement age for most dancers creeps up by the time they reach their early thirties. Not to mention the destruction of their feet in the process, due to the iconic and stunningly expensive pointe shoes ballet dancers wear.
But still, an endless number of aspiring professionals commit their early years, teen years, and adulthood to the unique sport. After sitting down with Amelia, it’s apparent that talent, grit, and a love for the sport are the ingredients for a successful ballet dancer.
Amelia entered June Taylor’s School of Dance as a toddler with the weight of her two cousins on her shoulders, two talented dancers both beloved by June Taylor herself after both going through the same studio.
Miss June—as her students address her—has always described ballet as “art from the waist up, and a sport from the waist down.”
Amelia took these words to heart, over the pandemic she became so consistent with her training that her dad built her a home studio to practice in. Once it was safe to return to the in-person studio, she quickly gained a reputation for her zealous work ethic and borderline frightening flexibility as the result of a grueling stretching routine.
After joining multiple vigorous summer training programs at institutions such as the San Francisco Ballet and the Elmhurst Ballet School, Amelia’s dedication resulted in a devastating back injury the summer before her junior year.
She stress-fractured her spine’s lowest vertebrate, a particular nightmare for ballet dancers whose backs are unnaturally bent in half for much longer than other athletes.
“I couldn’t dance for 8 weeks,” she described, “but I was still doing as much as I could, doing my exercises every day, practicing in the pool. That’s actually how I improved my footwork, practicing in the water where you feel so much lighter.”
After months of recovery, Amelia’s hard work did not go unnoticed by Miss June. This past holiday season, she casted Amelia as the lead role of Clara in the Northwest Dance Theater’s production of The Nutcracker.
“I think I could dance any role of the show at this point,” Amelia says, describing that over her past 14 years of dancing she’s done almost every other role in the classic ballet, beginning with a battle-scene mouse and most recently having danced the illustrious role of the Dewdrop Fairy.
But this is just the beginning of Amelia’s journey. After graduating from Jesuit, she plans to join a dance company and has applied to institutions all over the world.
If pursuing a professional ballet career wasn’t enough, Amelia also intends to pursue a career in English at the same time. “I want to dance professionally and be an editor, do freelance editing for books until I retire from ballet, and then work full time at a publishing company.”
So in addition to dancing at a ballet company, she will be majoring in English or Linguistics to do editing on the side, an ambitious path that is rare for dancers.
Amelia did not begin her dance journey smoothly, she was faced with a pandemic, injuries, and the difficulty of juggling endless hours in the studio with a full Honors and AP course load at Jesuit.
But even today she still feels the inspiration she felt as a kid watching the Olympics.
If you are thinking about starting a sport, take Amelia’s word that it’s never too late to start.
“Misty Copeland didn’t start dancing until she was 13,” she points out. Additionally, one of her favorite teachers actually did not start dancing ballet until the age of 19, and he’s built a successful career that has taken him all over the world.
“You just have to put in the work, do your stretches and stuff,” she concludes.
Amelia’s consistent “stretches and stuff” have paid off, and after graduation will lead her into the world of professional ballet and beyond.
