Experience of a lifetime
Marshall dancer learns new techniques at Joffrey Ballet School in New York
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MARSHALL -- Some people dream of dancing with the stars, but local dancer Isabelle Tomoson got the rare chance to actually be one.
A select number of talented dancers were chosen for Joffrey Ballet School's seven-week program. Not only did Tomoson earn a spot, but she also earned the experience of a lifetime. The school offers summer programs for aspiring dancers where they can audition for a spot. Selected dancers spend a select amount of time over a seven-week period at the dance school. Dancers are also competing on a global level.
Tomoson, 14, is a young dancer from Marshall and has been taking part in dance for seven years. She is under the instruction of Larvita McFarquhar at Southwest School of Dance in Lynd and competes in a well-rounded assortment of dance styles.
"I wanted to do some kind of dancing over the summer, and my mom found this opportunity," Tomoson said.
She went to the Southwest Minnesota State University dance studio, and recorded a video of herself dancing. In order to be considered, the video needed to have three dance parts -- plie, tendu, and developpe. Tomoson and her mother, Carey Duraiappa, submitted the video and hoped for the best.
Tomoson recalls the day she received the news.
"We got the email on a Tuesday, and I didn't get home that night until 9:30," she said. "I was all ready for bed when my mom called for me. She was waiting with candies, roses and sparking grape juice when she told me that I got accepted."
A few days after school got out, Tomoson, her mom and her brother headed out to New York City where they stayed in an apartment for seven weeks.
Not everyone stayed for the entirety of the summer program.
"Only about five of us were there for the whole seven weeks," Tomoson said.
Dance terminology varies from country to country, but so do the teaching styles.
"We had like 40 different instructors, and they were all from lots of different countries like Turkey, Italy, and Russia," Tomoson said. "We switched out teachers a lot because they all teach differently; this helped everyone to learn a lot of different techniques from each teacher."
The teachers got a break from teaching, but the dancers rarely got a break from dancing, Tomoson said.
"We typically practiced from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m." Tomoson said. "There's a concert at the end of the seven weeks, so in order to prepare for it, the last three weeks of the program I danced from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m."
Even though Tomoson put in long hours dancing, she managed to sneak away to see the city.
"During lunch breaks, we went to cool places like Times Square. I liked to ride the subway to practices," Tomoson said.
During the long intensive dance sessions, the dancers mainly took part in the dance styles of ballet, pointe, and contemporary.
"A lot of the girls attended performing arts schools, so they danced throughout their school days -- they were from big places like Sydney, Australia. I was the only one from a small town," Tomoson said.
Not everyone was as well rounded as Tomoson, though.
"The girls specialized and focused on one or two different types of dance, but I take part in various styles of dance," she said. "I was used as an example on how to do dance moves a lot."
Tomoson reflected on all she learned through the experience.
"We focused on lifts in all different styles," she said. "That was fun because at my dance school there aren't any guys that I can do lifts with. We also got to do a class of dance called 'pas de deux,' where there's a 'Nutcracker' and 'Swan Lake' variety. You need a guy for that too, so that's something I really liked and want to try to bring to my dance school."
Tomoson also learned a lot of new techniques.
"My teacher Josie, who is the head artistic director at the Joffrey Ballet School, taught me a new way to do turns that has really helped me improve," she said.
Looking forward, Tomoson plans to keep dancing throughout high school.
"I got into the Joffrey four-year trainee program, but I would have to do online high school, and I didn't really like the idea of that," she said.
She is also looking for a dance partner for pas de deux.
"I would love to find a guy my age to do partner dancing with," she said.