Motivational Reads: Lauren Lovette

This past week I was fortunate enough to be able to conduct an interview with fellow New York City Ballet dancer, Lauren Lovette. Although she is just 21 years old, she is already a soloist with the company and has the artistry, professionalism, and control of a much more mature dancer. When Lauren is on stage, it is difficult to watch anyone else as her dancing seems to flow out of her as effortlessly as breathing. Luckily for us, this is just the beginning of Lauren’s explosive career so we can all watch her grow and succeed together.

I was excited when Lauren agreed to do an interview with me because she is still so young in this career but she has made it and is thriving. I wanted to pick her brain a bit to see what valuable and inspirational things she could share with us to help us to be our best too. Despite her early success, you will be hard-pressed to find a dancer that is sweeter or more gracious than Lauren Lovette. I hope you enjoy learning a little bit about her.

1. Where/when did you start dancing?

I started ballet at age 10 at a small dance studio called California Dance Theater. I had had a semester of ballet/tap combined class when I was 7, but my mother had to take me out of it due to my hair falling out from stress. Apparently I took it too seriously and need to be exposed to other things for my health. I don't know if any of it really helped, but it was the doctor’s orders anyhow, and so I say I started at 10.

2. What got you into dancing?

I really got into dancing because of a woman who owned a dance studio next door to my aunt’s dance store. I would help out around the store and play with my cousin and grandma who both worked there. The director of CDT came in one day, and saw me twirling around the store. She asked me if I took dance lessons and I told her that I only took once before and that I didn't know very much about it. She then made my aunt an offer to pay for my classes for a week to see how I liked it. Before I knew it I was in a hunter green leotard taking my first real ballet class. I took a liking to it immediately and a free week turned into a month and then a year. Had my dance teacher not paid, I wouldn't have danced.

3. What kept you there?

I stuck with it even with the later start and with some mean girls in my class because I knew that I couldn't let my dance teacher down, for she had given me so much, nor could I let myself down after working so hard. So even though my mother asked me to quit several times, I stuck with it.

4. What was hardest for you about your training, i.e. steps, focusing, technique?

[This] is hard to answer because I feel that so many things have been a struggle for me through my short dance career. I have always fought against the "diva" or "competitive" type of people that I am around everyday. I, also, have to fight to keep myself in a sound mind. I have always had a "loose" body type that never seems to be strong enough for the ambitions I have for myself. I am not a very confident performer: I freeze up on stage due to stage fright and have had to work at that for some time. I also love my family beyond words and have had to give up half of my childhood to move away from them at 14 years old. I still to this day have to work at all these things to keep myself in this career for it isn't a natural thing to be a dancer but a learned discipline.

5. How did you deal will jealousy from other dancers or your own of other dancers?

Jealousy is a part of life that I’m afraid none of us can really escape.  We always want what we don't have and unfortunately can't do much to hinder such feelings from taking place. What has always helped me with this issue is to adjust my focus from what I don't have to what I do [have]. It is a hard thing to practice, not at all a foreign idea, but somehow so hard to do. 

Personally I struggled for a long time with my body type. Being what dancers would call a "curvy" and short dancer, I wanted so badly to look different. All of my idol ballerinas were tall and just looked different than me. It took me a long time to see the benefits of being a 5'4" small boned curvy dancer. I was experiencing a reality that was distorting my perspective and causing me to have an unhealthy self-image. Jealousy can eat away at your happiness and hinder you from all the beautiful things you were made to do. When I focused on how I was uniquely made and looked for positive things, I discovered things about myself that encouraged me. For instance I found that I love partnering and can partner with all sorts of different heights. I discovered that there are a vast amount of roles that require someone my size and shape. I found my dream role to be Juliet from Romeo and Juliet and being small is a good thing for that role. It doesn't mean that I never deal with jealousy anymore, but putting things into this perspective has really helped me to learn a joy that has really kept me going even on my hardest day. 

6. How did you balance school, ballet, friends, and family?

Balance is never something that you figure out, and then have for life. It’s a constant thing to practice. I find that ballet dancers learn early that their life has to be slightly unbalanced for the sake of a career. You learn it young, somewhere around 12 or 13 when you can't go to birthday parties, sleepovers, vacations or summer camp due to ballet classes, performances, and summer programs. But somehow you find a way to keep your family and close friends in your life and make time. I was home schooled, which was a good and bad thing. It gave me more time to focus on dance, but I struggled teaching myself and often wished that I had had a teacher to help.

7. Were you ever rejected? How did you handle that?

I was rejected the first time I auditioned for [The School of American Ballet]. I remember being very upset reading that thin letter after weeks of checking the mailbox. However looking back, I find it a very important experience in my life. I had to decide at that moment if I really wanted to go for it. After receiving that letter, I decided to get strong and work harder than I ever had before. The next year I was accepted with full scholarship and asked to stay for the year-round program. Getting rejected made me want it more, and put the work in to accomplish it.

8. Did you ever struggle with low self-confidence? If so, how did you overcome that?

I still struggle with self-confidence. I am naturally a self-conscious person and pretty shy, but those that know me, see that dance has helped me open up and be a more confident person. I still hate public speaking, struggle with teaching, and get stage fright almost every show, but I know that I am a stronger person because of it.

Lauren in Rubies by George Balanchine
Photo Credit: Paul Kolnik

9. What's the hardest part of your professional career (hours, competition, learning new parts)?

This is a question I get asked often, and I never really know how to answer it. I guess it depends on the day, but if I had to pick one, I would have to say it's learning roles as fast as we have to at NYCB. Sometimes you get two weeks sometimes one. Other times, just a couple days. It is a mentally hard career.

10. What motivates you now? Why have you stayed?

My faith and my family motivate me. Nothing really satisfies me more than pulling through a hard day and knowing that I have something so much deeper to live for.

11. What do you wish you had known earlier about dancing professionally/the dance world? Is it how you thought it would be?

Someone wise once told me "everyone is too busy worrying about themselves to be worrying about you." That really resonated for me being a "self-conscious" person. When I first joined NYCB, I thought everyone was whispering about me all the time. I realized later that most of what I was feeling my first year was in my head. People are usually more interested in themselves. Had I learned this lesson sooner, I would have saved myself quite a bit of trouble.

12. Do you do any cross-training now?

I go to a private Pilates instructor, Patrick Strong. He helps me with my loose joints and weak core. 

13. What keeps you sane in this crazy competitive and challenging world?

What keeps me sane through the day are my hobbies and friends. I love cooking, baking bread, buying/making Christmas gifts during nutcracker, and crocheting. 

14. What's your favorite ballet?

I think my favorite ballet is After the Rain by Christopher Wheeldon. If I could only watch one for life it would be that. 

15. What was your most embarrassing moment on stage so far?

Probably in Alexei Ratmansky's Russian Seasons when I forgot twelve counts of choreography and just started improvising my own dance.

16. Who is your biggest role model dead or alive?

Professionally speaking, [New York City Ballet Principal] Jenny Ringer. She is the humblest and most down to earth dancer I know. She has also found such a balance of work and family. I admire that. 

17. What's your biggest piece of advice to an aspiring dancer? 

Love it more than anyone.  Learn how to laugh at yourself. Learn to fall and put your pride aside. You will grow faster than you ever imagined you could. Your person will start to shine through your dancing and though you will feel exposed, you will glow, and that's what it means to be a dancer. 

18. What's your next goal in the dance world? Where will we see you in the coming years?

My path is always changing and I live in the day. I look forward to the future when I will look back at my life and see the map that got me where I am. As for the future? There is nothing I can't do that I am meant to do. And I believe I am meant for something God only knows. That is what I hope for and am striving toward. Everyday I'm a little closer to destiny :)

Lauren’s stories and advice truly capture the life of a dancer all the way from the first class to stardom. I thank her immensely for her honesty and openness in all of her answers. Everything she had to go through and overcome to get where she is are things that we can overcome too. I hope you have taken something inspirational from Lauren today and I am so glad I was able to share one of my own biggest inspirations and motivators with you all.