Las Vegas Academy
Las Vegas Academy, only thirteen years old, is a performing arts high school for grades 9 through 12. Built in 1939, it is Las Vegas, Nevada's oldest high school and is listed on the historical registry.
Students can pursue a major in dance, vocal music, instrumental music, piano, theatre or theatre technology, visual arts or international studies. In addition to classes in their major that meet 86 minutes daily (36 longer than standard high schools), students have academic classes that meet every other day. To accommodate this ambitious schedule, the resulting school day is one hour longer than comprehensive high schools.
For its dance program, Las Vegas Academy has chosen to specialize in modern. Good thinking. Since sixty percent of its graduating seniors go on to four-year university programs and since many of those universities emphasize modern dance, Las Vegas Academy has piqued the interest of recruiters for prestigious schools like Southern Methodist University in Texas, California Institute of the Arts, Chapman University and Hart. Stay tuned; more to come shortly.
Lisa Lazenby, one of the Academy's accomplished teachers, said the dance program's emphasis--quite by design-- is on Graham. "We wanted to base the program on something. We wanted to say, 'We teach Graham base technique here. You will leave this school, if you progress through our levels, with a solid Graham base...That's our niche, is the modern."
But first, you have to get in. Auditions are held every February. "We start off with a basic locomotor test--walk, walk, walk, pivot turn, pivot turn. Walk, walk, walk, pas de bourrée, pas de bourrée. We do an elimination right there. We used to not, but we figured we were wasting people's time."
Next is a ballet combination that includes a petit allegro and an adagio. "Sometimes we'll group kids who seem to have a little more ability coming in - group them and then say, 'Okay, instead of the changement, you can do entrechat quatre or royale. And we usually don't demonstrate it so they would have to know it." This year, at the end of the audition, they will add a section for the students to perform their own two counts of eight in their preferred style.
Those who make it are placed in a class right then and there but are watched carefully in the first two weeks of school and moved if necessary. That can be a difficult decision. "Often at a studio, if you start with Mary, you and Mary get moved up so you always feel like you're accomplishing something. You'll get a kid that says, 'But I've been in class in the studio with Mary for seven years and now you've placed us in different levels.' Sometimes the parent will be upset about that and then we have to explain that the studio's a business and they have to make their customers happy. We explain that we don't get paid any extra money. We get no benefits, no perks. We really are doing what's best for the child...A level is not a status symbol. It's just where you need to be. We wouldn't be good teachers if we just let you go wherever, or your parents are complaining so we'll move you up."
Nor will a student move up with dance alone. Academics matter. "We are second in the district for test scores. And we have no discipline problems here because they have to audition to be here. If they mess up, they can be sent back to their zone school...Their spot is not guaranteed here."
But for the spots that are taken, Las Vegas Academy is turning out articulate students who laud the dance program and its confidence-building atmosphere - articulate seniors like Niki Reyes, Denise Vong and Britney Humphries. Niki said, "You have to have a passion to dance to go to this school or you cannot be here." But, she added, "The school isn't just about dancing...They're really tough and you really have to keep your grades up because you could get kicked out of school. It's a 2.0 GPA and if it goes any lower, then you're gone and that means that you can't dance any more."
Passion is great but it takes more than passion to succeed in the dance world. What, they were asked, has Las Vegas Academy given them that they wouldn't have gotten elsewhere?
Britney said, "Confidence would be the first thing that it has given me. I never felt like I was a good enough dancer until I came here and I got the support from everyone."
Niki added, "Everyone is from all over Las Vegas...and since we're all good at separate fields, I think that when we come into class and we see a perfect ballerina, it helps us to want to become that and we can watch and learn from each other."
Denise: "We all know our weaknesses and our strengths...It's very personal to throw yourself out there. It's a very vulnerable feeling to be doing improvisation and to be doing your own choreography because it's being judged by other people...but you're throwing yourself out there to be looked at, to be judged, to be studied...I had to say, 'Okay, this is me. I don't really care what you think because if I do, it's going to hold me back.'"
Britney: "Outside of this school, it is very competitive. You want to be better than everybody else. You want to be first overall. But here, we like to support each other."
Niki: "We don't pick on each other's weaknesses. We help by building up the positive...We all want to be good dancers. We're not going to put anybody else down because then when they go onstage, they're with you. You don't want to make your dance look bad. You're all going to work your best. You're all going to try to help each other. If you make somebody mad and make them feel bad about themselves before they go onstage, are they going to want to perform? No."
Ultimately, the focus is a well-rounded dancer with an equally well-rounded education. Lisa said, "If you're a ballet dancer and you want a ballet school, we're not the place for you. You know, you have ballet in your block once or twice a week. It's not every day. It's not several hours...We are not a ballet school. We are a dance program."
"When they leave here, they're not just dancers. They are true artists." True artists with an early exposure to and proficiency in modern dance that may just put them a step ahead.