San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Ballet director diversifying dance
Danielle Campbell Steans teased the ballet dancers in a recent class that they were giving away some of the magic.
“You’re showing them how hard you work,” she said, mimicking their noisy leaps and landing with a loud thump. “Don’t do that. It’s easy, right?”
The masked dancers adjusted accordingly, making substantially less noise on their next pass across the roomy studio, home to Campbell Steans’ San Antonio Ballet School.
Campbell Steans, 37, who started dancing as a child and spent two decades as a ballerina with companies across the country, has had her own studio for four years. The storefront space in a Castle Hills strip mall has a children’s program, as well as a slate of recreational dance classes for all ages. It also is home to the San Antonio Youth Ballet, a preprofessional training program. The company follows the American Ballet Theatre’s national training curriculum.
One of the school’s missions is to contribute to efforts across the country to make ballet more diverse, an important issue for Campbell Steans, who is Black.
In general, dance in the United States is overwhelmingly white, according to census data. Numbers from 2018 found that 62 percent of dancers and choreographers fall into that category. Hispanic dancers make up 18.6 percent of the profession, and Black dancers make up 11.7 percent.
“Oftentimes, I think there’s this stigma that ballet is maybe one way and for one group of people, and I think it’s just very important to show how really diverse it can be, and not a lot of people realize that,” Campbell Steans said. “I get that a lot: ‘You’re a ballet dancer?’ Well, yeah.”
She grew up working with and watching dancers of various backgrounds, she said, and wants to offer that opportunity to the youngsters she works with, too.
Because cost is sometimes a barrier to dance training, she partners with school districts and other organizations to offer scholarships.
“What I love is that we are able to go into these schools or different organizations and find these kids who are talented and have a passion for it,” Campbell Steans said. “I think that’s what’s really special, and it’s changing their lives.”
Reaching out to potential dancers who might otherwise feel shut out of ballet has been a big part of her career. She received training in developing outreach programs when she was with the Nashville Ballet, and during her time with Ballet San Antonio, she initiated a partnership with American Ballet Theatre’s Project Plié, which brings dance training to youngsters in Boys & Girls Clubs across the country.
Campbell Steans’ love of dance was fostered by her family. Her grandparents are arts patrons, she said, and her father grew up watching the New York City Ballet.
“My parents worked for the airlines, and we moved to Kansas City when I was very young, and, luckily, the assistant director of the Kansas City Ballet was one of the first principal dancers of New York City Ballet, so we had access to wonderful training,” she said.
Lisa Dillinger was one of her first dance teachers. Dillinger, who now teaches at the Miller Marley School of Dance & Voice in Overland Park, Kan., remembers that even when Campbell Steans was 9, it was clear she had the talent and drive to forge a career in dance.
“She always had something special,” Dillinger said. “Some kids do it because it’s fun. She was willing to do what it took to make that happen.
“You’ve got to really want it. It looks pretty onstage, but it’s a tough, brutal world otherwise.”
Campbell Steans danced with the National Youth Ballet and with companies in Atlanta, Nashville and Chicago before landing a position with Ballet San Antonio in 2007.
She danced and taught with the company for about 10 years, including three as manager.
“During my last season there, there was a transition, and so, the director at the time decided that he had a new vision, and so unfortunately, I along with the ballet mistress and several other dancers were out of a job,” Campbell Steans said.
She spent about six weeks as a stay-at-home mom, tending to son William. She was trying to figure out her next career move — she was leaning toward becoming a flight attendant while teaching dance on the side — when she heard from Sandra Bravo. Bravo was closing her Castle Hills dance studio and suggested that Campbell Steans teach in the space.
After talking it over with her husband, Drew, she decided to go for it. She started with three dancers — one of whom was her niece — and the school grew swiftly to about 80 students by the end of her first year.
When that number topped
100, she and her husband decided the time had come for a bigger space, and they moved across the street in January.
As Campbell Steans was building her business, Ballet San Antonio founder Mayra Worthen got in touch. Worthen had hired her to dance with the company, and they had kept in touch. Worthen was preparing to retire and was looking for someone to take over San Antonio Youth Ballet, the pre-professional group she had created.
“Danielle’s got what it takes to be able to not only take what she was given, but to nurture it and take it to a much higher level,” said Worthen. “She’s very focused and dedicated.
“Work ethic and dedication is so important — you have to have it if you want success in this type of business. So I was very fortunate that she was here and wanting to take over that group with those kids that were so important to me.”
Worthen said she is impressed with what Campbell Steans has done with the company, and so is Dillinger.
“They’re very nicely trained, and they’re at a level where they can go do the Youth America Grand Prix, which is like an Olympic event for dancers,” Dillinger said. “I’m very proud of what she’s doing.”
Samantha Maas, 18, has trained with Campbell Steans off and on since she was 4; she also is part of the San Antonio Youth Ballet.
“She’s definitely very tough,” said Maas, who intends to pursue a career in dance. “The difference between a normal class and a Miss Danielle class is that she really wants us to be pushed and wants us to show our full potential to everyone.”
Maas plans to move to London this fall to study contemporary dance at a conservatory. She credits her acceptance into the program partly to her studies with Campbell Steans.
“When I was auditioning for other colleges this past year, during my interviews, a lot of the teachers would say they could tell I had very good training,” she said.
San Antonio Ballet School’s studio was closed for about two months following shutdown orders put in place to try to stem the spread of COVID-19. During that time, Maas and the other students took class over Zoom to keep their skills sharp.
When it reopened, a slew of new safety measures were in place. Everyone who comes in has their temperature screened, and masks are required. The dancers wear them in class, too, where they also are reminded to disinfect the portable barres after working with them.
Some students have opted to continue their studies virtually for the time being.
“That’s totally OK,” Campbell Steans said. “Everyone’s comfort level is different, so I think it’s important to be respectful of that.
“Before the pandemic, we had close to 200 (students). It’s changing a little bit now. A lot of families say ‘We’re going to come back when things go back to normal.’ ”
Campbell Steans is making some plans with the idea that “back to normal” may not happen soon. She’s started laying the groundwork for a drive-in staging of “The Nutcracker” over the holidays. She hopes to collaborate with several other organizations to make it happen.
“The New York City Ballet canceled ‘The Nutcracker,’ and so did the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago,” she said. “I can’t imagine not having it.
“I think that the world relies on us to be creative and to do something like that. I think they need that.”