The pitter-patter of young feet only in these ballets
In leading roles, dancers gain experience, confidence
Vanessa Bessler wanted to do something different when she launched the Children’s Ballet of San Antonio, a preprofessional dance company, three years ago.
She wanted to put young dancers in the spotlight. That includes giving them highprofile roles that in other youth companies might be danced by professional adult dancers. When that happens, she said, young dancers can get frustrated.
“We lose so many dancers,” she said. “They lose hope.”
And so, in her company, every dancer on stage ranges in age from 3 to 19.
“We don’t use professional dancers,” said Bessler, a former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Panama who has danced and studied around the world.
The company’s next production is “The Children’s Nutcracker” Thursday and Friday at the Majestic Theatre.
“It’s a Tricentennial celebration, so we are showing all of the cultural elements that take place at Christmas in San Antonio,” Bessler said.
She drew some inspiration from the first Christmas she spent here after moving to the city with her husband, Tim, and their two sons. The family moved here after Tim was hired as vice provost of St. Mary’s University. They attended a posada that year, and so the company’s staging includes a posada, as well as a piñata, mariachis, ballet folklorico and some Irish dance.
In addition to maintaining a busy performance schedule — the company is slated to perform “Cinderella” next year at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts and often performs for community events around town — several compa-
ny members have taken part in international competitions.
Bessler believes that giving young dancers the opportunity to challenge themselves with leading roles gives them a leg up in those events.
The standards simply to enter those competitions are rigid, she said. And she believes that the competition circuit will launch the next generation of ballet stars.
“This is where the next Misty Copeland will come from,” she said.
Mackenzie Kirsh, 15, who is dancing the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the company’s “Nutcracker,” is preparing to compete in the Prix La Lausanne, a prestigious international dance competition in Switzerland in February. She is one of 10 dancers from the United States and the only one from Texas to make the cut.
Kirsh, who took up dancing at 7, said she always dreamed of competing in that event. So she’s excited to have the opportunity.
Bessler is the only dance teacher she has ever had. They began working together when Kirsch was a 7-year-old student at Saint Mary’s Hall, where Bessler taught. When Bessler left to start her own school, Kirsch continued studying with her. The gifted teen is now home-schooled to make sure she has enough time to devote to her dance training. She spends up to 30 hours a week working in the studio.
“She’s one of the dancers I have to make go home,” Bessler said.
Kirsh said she loves ballet because it challenging: “It’s really hard, but that’s good.”
In addition to helping dancers sharpen the skills needed to compete globally, putting youngsters in big roles also sends a message to their peers that they, too, might be able to fill those particular toe shoes.
Celeste White, who coordinates the many volunteers who work with the company, said that’s what happened to her daughter, Francesca, 12. She was not remotely interested in dance until she saw the company’s staging of “Swan Lake” last year. After that, White said, her daughter wanted to give dance a try.
“She met Mrs. Bessler, and she was hooked,” White said.
Francesca will be dancing in “Nutcracker.”
Bessler has danced all her life. She began as a child in Panama, where she crossed paths with ballet legend Dame Margot Fonteyn, who retired there. Fonteyn served as an adviser to the National Ballet Company of Panama.
Bessler was 10 when she first laid eyes on Fonteyn, and her face lights up when she talks about that moment.
“I saw this lady who looked like a vision, she was so beautiful,” she said. “I could tell she was a ballerina.”
She got to work a bit with Fonteyn and drew inspiration from her. Bessler tries to do something similar for the young dancers she works with now.
“They come here with a dream,” she said. “And we take it seriously. And we try to make it happen.”