15 Minutes of Fame: Nadia Waski

Dance has almost always been part of Nadia Waski's life. When she was 3, her parents wanted to expose her to the arts; dance, with its emphasis on movement, was a natural choice for a young girl.

Her mother enrolled Nadia first in the Westport Academy of Dance. Then came the Connecticut Dance School. For the past six years, Nadia -- now a senior -- has danced in Norwalk with the Academy of Ballet Etudes' pre-professional division, and as a soloist in their Company. She's studied jazz, tap, ballet and modern. These days she concentrates now on ballet, with some modern dance during summers.

The creative aspect of ballet appeals most to Nadia. "You can play any character," she explains, citing her current roles as a Fairy and Jewel in Sleeping Beauty, which she performs on March 27. The challenge of personifying those characters intrigues her.

Many of Nadia's friends play sports. She too is an athlete -- and more. She cites a favorite quote: "You have to be an athlete to dance, but an artist to be a dancer." Like her sports friends, her activity demands complete focus. Dance, she says, is "almost like meditation. It's a way to center myself." Junior year was particularly stressful, she says. But with dance, she could relax for three hours a day.

That's right -- Nadia spends three hours a day dancing, six days a week. On Saturdays, she rehearses for five hours. Summer programs last five or six weeks each. This summer, Nadia returns to the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in New York, in their advanced levels. In the past she has also danced with the Boston Ballet, and the Walnut Hill School for the Arts with scholarships.

To be a ballet dancer, Nadia notes, "you have to be willing to dedicate tremendous time and effort. You have to want to drive to the top. You need to be focused, but also open to criticism." The lessons she has learned from dance have helped her in school. As a sophomore she took Advanced Placement Biology. "The teacher was very demanding," she says. Nadia wanted to drop the course, but thought about the lessons she's learned -- and joys she's gotten -- from sticking with ballet. She stayed in the classes, did well, and looks back with satisfaction on the experience.

She credits ABT with reigniting her passion for ballet, as well as improving her technique and artistic skills. At ABT Nadia studied choreography -- and that led to an epiphany.

"I had a very inspirational teacher," she reports. "I was able to create a movement, pick my music, make my own piece, and it all came together. I realized how much I loved every part of dance."

Her new interest paid off: She won the Dance/Choreography section of the PTA "Reflections" contest, for the town of Westport -- and then finished first in state competition, too. She now moves on to the national level, representing both Staples and Connecticut.

Nadia's favorite roles include Clara in The Nutcracker, when she was 13. Last year she was Rose, the lead in the "Waltz of the Flowers," one of the best-known dances in The Nutcracker. Nadia has two groups of friends, she says: the dancers she has met at studios and camps, and classmates at Staples who support her by watching her perform.

"I've met people from all over the world," she says. "But it's nice to have a home base too."

Despite the demands of dance, Nadia finds time for other activities. She was on Staples' marine team that finished eighth in the recent Quahog Bowl at the University of Connecticut. She also serves on her class committees.

If she could change anything about Staples, Nadia says, it would be to place a greater emphasis on dance. "Very few people understand how hard we work, and how athletic we need to be," she says. "They don't understand that dance involves both elegance and power." Nadia has applied to colleges with top dance programs -- although she may defer school for a year, to dance with a company. So it may come as a surprise that her career goal is to be a ... paleontologist.

Last summer, in addition to studying at ABT Nadia worked with fossils at Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History. Her interest goes back to her preschool and summer program days at Westport's Earthplace. More recently, she became the first high school student admitted to the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, a 2,300-member professional society.

Nadia's college application essay was about the commonalities between paleontology and dance. Both, she wrote, demand creativity. Scientists must be able to craft creative hypotheses, while dancers bring creativity to every role they interpret.

Nadia Waski may not know yet where she'll be a year from now. But it is clear she is moving -- gracefully -- in all the right directions.