Therese Davis 16 ~ Gloria Ziaks & Caryn Halpern Sechrest Ballet Scholarship
Therese Davis' favorite thing to do is dance. She loves every aspect of it – from working on small technical details to learning to expand movement to performing. When Therese performs, she trusts in her technique so she can completely lose herself in the music.
Therese began dancing at ten at a small local studio then moved to Faubourg School of Ballet at fifteen. In February she competed in the Prix de Lausanne. All the dancers around her were so talented; the teachers and coaches so willing to share their knowledge; the class musicians passionate; a caring administrative staff. She left feeling more confident and ready to continue to push herself technically and artistically.
Next year, her senior year of high school, Therese intends to attend the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. After she graduates, she would love to dance with San Francisco Ballet or Pacific Northwest Ballet. They are her favorites because of varied repertoires of classical ballets, in addition to more contemporary works and strong, passionate dancers to perform them. Therese would love to dance professionally, share all her work and hopefully inspire others to appreciate the arts.
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I am so grateful to the North Texas Dance Council for the scholarship that helped me attend Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Summer Program. I loved it! I feel the classes really helped me to move faster and that taking all classes on pointe helped me to be more articulate in my pointe shoes.
One of the most interesting things for me was to learn Balanchine variations. Working out the strange timing for an Agon duet and properly shaping my arms for a La Valse trio were things I had never done before! I hadn’t seen almost any Balanchine ballets before this summer and was glad that in addition to learning some I could watch others in the PNB library. I especially enjoyed Symphony in C because it was a prime example of Balanchine’s brilliant musicality and looked like so much fun to dance!
I was also lucky to watch a company rehearsal for a new contemporary piece,Cylindrical Shadows.It was amazing to see the choreographer work directly with the dancers to create such a beautiful and intriguing piece.
After such a good summer, I am very excited to return in the fall as a member of their Professional Division and to keep learning and improving!
~ Therese Davis