Chosen Students Enjoy Being Part of University Of Utah

By: Angela Worley

 

 

 

The University of Utah’s ballet department is highly selective in the students that are chosen. Only 30 percent of the students that apply to the restricted major are accepted.

           

Because it is a restricted major, once students are accepted into the University of Utah, they then must audition for the department in order to get in. “We are rather strict, which helps maintain the quality of our dancers, “said Regina Zahrin, assistant professor of the University of Utah ballet department. “Those who make it to us have been dancing all their lives, they grey up dancing because it takes long years of training. That means that they are very hungry and that means that they really want to succeed,” said Zahrin.

           

 

 

“I have been dancing since the age of three and pre-professionally since I’ve been out of high school,” said Vinnie Prisbrey, graduate student of the University of Utah’s ballet department. Prisbrey was also one of the sugar plum fairies in last years “The Nutcracker” show performed by the University of Utah’s ballet department.

            

“I chose the University of Utah because it’s such a classically based ballet department. They have really strong teachers like Maureen Laird from Ballet West that have really helped me to grow,” said Bailey Wheeler, ballet student at the University of Utah.

            

Although the major is very demanding of students, they enjoy taking fewer academic classes which allows them more time for dance.

            

“What I like most is how I get to dance all day long and only take a few academic classes during the day. That way I really get to focus on how I perform, my training, and how I can better myself as a dancer,” said Wheeler.

            

Ballet students train for long hours and put on performances at the University of Utah in their own Hayes Chirstensen Theatre, located in the Marriott Center for Dance.

            

“I like to perform. It’s a lot of training and practices,” Prisbrey said.

            

The strict criteria of the department and professors who are and have been dancers themselves, keep students motivated and looking forward to a career in ballet. “It’s like singing. If you don’t have a voice you’re not going to make it into opera,” said Zahrin jokingly. But the reality of it is that it is true.