Summer of ballet
KNIGHT — Apr 9th, 1996
By Caroline Knight
Dancer Caitlin Waid extends her long, slender right leg behind her as she stretches forward. Controlled, she lowers her upper body as her leg, ending with the curve of her pointed toe, seems to reach the ceiling of the dance studio.
This move, called a panchŽ, may seem difficult but Waid, 12, finds it strengthens her for what she loves — ballet.
"The basic reason I like dance is because I really like to move," said Waid, a seventh-grader at Woodward Middle School on Bainbridge Island. "It's (ballet) a natural, pure art form."
She will be able to test her love for movement this summer when she attends the Pacific Northwest Ballet summer program on a full scholarship. For six weeks, from July 8 through Aug. 16, she'll take 13 dance classes a week at the PNB school in Seattle.
Waid was surprised upon learning she won the scholarship.
"You're supposed to fill out an application if you need a scholarship, but I didn't fill one out," she said. "They just gave it to me."
Her classes will include ballet technique, jazz, character, Spanish and modern dances. Ballet and jazz are her favorites.
Waid auditioned with 90 dancers from around the Northwest for the PNB summer program a few weeks ago at the Phelps Center, PNB's headquarters in Seattle.
The company auditioned 1,400 dancers nationwide and accepted 300 students ages 12 to 18.
About 220 students will attend the program and take classes from regular PNB teachers and visiting professionals such as Alan Pietsch, a local jazz instructor.
Most thought the audition was intense because everyone was nervous, but for Waid it went fairly easy. The one thing about auditioning she did not enjoy was the competition among dancers.
"Everyone is so competitive," Waid said. "They had to block off the windows because of the competitive mothers hovering around. I was sort of nervous, but I go to a lot of auditions just for the experience or just to take the class."
Waid, who attended her first dance camp at Walla Walla last summer for two weeks, has only been dancing for three years.
Even though she attended school next to PNB, she was never interested in dance until she was 9.
"My mom asked if I wanted to take lessons and I said no because I thought it was for people who were wimpy or whatever," she said. "One day I woke up and told my mom I wanted to take ballet."
Waid, the daughter of Beth Soukup and Roger Waid, has been taking classes in ballet, jazz and tap at Liberty Bay Danceworks in Poulsbo six days a week and also is a teaching assistant for the younger students.
She also dances in the Dance Ensemble Northwest.
If Waid ever stops dancing, she wants to teach or choreograph. Right now, she is interested in pursuing dance as a profession, possibly with the Houston Ballet or the PNB, because the PNB is doing a variety of modern things.
People don't go to see the ballet anymore, she said. The audience used to be packed, but now baby-boomers aren't going because they can just watch TV.
"I want to be part of the generation to bring audiences back (to the ballet)," Waid said.
Staff photo by Larry Steagall
ballet moves: Caitlin Waid, 12, from Bainbridge Island, dances against a background painting of a trio of ballerinas while practicing at Liberty Bay Danceworks in Poulsbo. Waid won a full scholarship to the Pacific Northwest Ballet's summer dance program.
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