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The Teen Dancers of ABT II

Calvin Royal III (former ABT II member and now ABT apprentice) partners with Brittany DeGrofft

of American Ballet Theatre II

Photo by Jim Coleman

American Ballet Theatre II: 'Best Talent in the World'

American Ballet Theatre II may be the farm team for the big company, which is one of the

finest ballet companies in the world, but Wes Chapmen, director of the junior group, and

self-designated “Ballet Dad,” puts things in perspective. “These dancers are teenagers,” he said

in a phone interview, “but they are among the best talent in the world in that age group.”

Chapman and ABT director Kevin McKenzie accept DVD submissions, look at promising

students in the company’s New York City school, recruit at international youth ballet

competitions, and even check-out YouTube videos. The twelve dancers selected are between

the ages of 16-20, and spend up to two years touring with the second company before either

being invited to join the main company or accepting a position with a different group. Last year,

four dancers were promoted into ABT, and one went to the Houston Ballet.

Among the young dancers in 2010 are Brittany DeGrofft , from Tucson, and Aaron Smyth ,

from Gold Coast, Australia. For these dancers, being in ABT II is more than a potential

stepping-stone to a career with the mother company. They also get to dance principal roles.

Once they move on, it’s time to pay their dues in the corps de ballet, a more humbling position.

“It’s a good challenge,” said DeGrofft, speaking on the phone from ABT headquarters in

Manhattan. “It’s nice to be able to be seen, before joining the corps and becoming part of the

scenery.” She says her two years in ABT II, which is coming to an end, were like “a constant

audition.”

The dancers hail from Cuba, Brazil and Canada, in addition to various parts of the U.S. and

Australia. “We’re like a family,” said DeGrofft. “We work together well. I always learn something

from watching the others.” Moving to New York was an opportunity for this young woman to

thrive. “Coming from a place where I was the best dancer in class, now I can push myself in a

more challenging environment, which is great.” In addition to performing some of the roles from

classic repertoire, ABT II dancers have the opportunity to work with contemporary

choreographers who set new dances on them. They spent two weeks in October at the Flying E

Ranch, a dude ranch in Wickenburg, Ariz., where a warehouse space was converted into a

ballet studio, and the group worked with the choreographer Jessica Lang on a new piece.

Smyth, who began childhood in Australia playing soccer and competing as a swimmer, went

along with his sister to a ballet class one day and was hooked. “It was something about music

and moving,” he said. He’s been dreaming about coming to New York to dance with ABT since

he was five years old, he said. He’s been in the company since April and started things off with

a tour of Spain. Continuing on tour in the United States, he was one of the male dancers

partnering DeGrofft in the Rose Adagio from "Sleeping Beauty," and he performed the “Grand

Pas Classique” with choreography by Victor Gsovsky, and danced in “Allegro Brillante” by

George Balanchine. Out of six dances ABT II took on tour, he was in four. “I have to make one

costume change in about five seconds,” he said. “There’s a quick change area backstage. It’s a

good workout.”

Smyth, who is 19, stands 5 feet 11, an asset for a male dancer, and dreams of playing all the

leading roles at ABT, particularly Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet" and Basilio in "Don Quixote." He

partnered fellow company dancer Alys Shee at the USA International Ballet Competition in

Jackson, Miss., last summer (Shee won the silver medal), and he was a finalist himself at the

2010 Prix de Lausanne (

see video below

) and Bronze Medal winner at the South African International Ballet Competition . Over his

summer vacation, he said he also returned to Australia to visit his Mom and have his wisdom

teeth removed.

“Ballet Dad,” Wes Chapman, originally from Alabama, joined American Ballet Theatre in 1984

and was promoted to soloist in 1987 and principal dancer in 1989. He danced many of the

leading roles in the ballet repertoire, danced as a principal at the Bavarian National Ballet, and

became the artistic director of Alabama Ballet in 1996. He’s been running ABT II for four

seasons. “I do every single thing except choreograph,” he said. “I stage the classics, choose

repertoire, teach class… [T]hey’re teenagers, sometimes it’s about tough love. I think it’s my

personal punishment for not having my own children.”

By the time the dancers get to the company, it’s not a matter of working on their technique as

much as teaching them to become artists, he said. “I teach them about integrity. How they have

to have integrity in every aspect of their careers. I want them to walk away knowing how

important it is to be a dancer.”

Chapman says he looks for tall boys and small, glamorous girls to join his group. He works

closely with Kevin McKenzie, the artistic director of the larger organization, choosing the

choreographers they bring in, who are also auditioning for jobs with the big company, and, of

course, the future of each of the ABT II dancers. Both he and McKenzie were performers

together in the company and have a close relationship. “I’m just very busy, he’s very, very

busy,” Chapman said.

Choosing the right repertory for ABT II is a key part of the experience, Chapman said. “I want

the dancers to be successful but challenged. I mix in works made for them with works by

Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.” He also needs to find dances that work with a company of

12. “Allegro Brillante,” the Balanchine work he chose, is known as one of the top 10 ballets in

the repertoire. “It’s dance for dance sake. Fast. Musical,” he said. The new piece they learned in

Arizona was a modern dance with the women “off pointe.” Said Chapman: “They need to learn

how to use the floor, how to fall.”

Some of the dancers have artistic qualities naturally, he said, others need a bit of coaching. “We

talk about art, right off the bat,” he said. “I’ll ask them, ‘How does the music make you feel here?

Show me that feeling.’ Sometimes they haven’t thought about it. Sometimes I can say, ‘When I

was dancing this role, I felt…'”

In the upcoming 2010-11 year, the company will be traveling to Europe for four months, which

Chapman says is grueling. “It will kick our butts, traveling from place to place. The rest time is

limited, eating and language are an issue.” And then there are the raked stages in Europe, the

traditional design where the floor slopes up from front to back, allowing audiences a better view,

and leaping dancers an opportunity to fly from the back of the stage forward. American dancers

rarely have an opportunity to experience this old-fashioned theatre design. “Don’t freak out, this

is the big world, you can get over it,” Chapman says he has told other casts. “This is

entertainment, not life and death. Lean back and shut up!”

Michael Wade Simpson