ON A HIGH NOTE

Ordway Conservatory’s Director Instills Confidence, Leadership in Students

By Katrina Wilson

Sara Ordway, artistic director and owner of Ordway Conservatory in Manassas, ensures her students obtain more than a world-class ballet education at her institution; they also gain health, confidence and leadership skills.

“For ballet students, excellent training is paramount,” Ordway said. “Without proper technique, a dancer can’t stay injury free or reach the professional level. It’s always been important to me to instill confidence in my students.”

She said very few ballet students end up in a professional company, but every child who comes into her class has a tremendous amount to gain from ballet.

“Ballet is unique in that it’s very physically demanding, it requires acting skills and it is an art form,” she said. “You get to be an athlete, an actor and an artist all in one.”

Classes at Ordway Conservatory

The classes at Ordway Conservatory allow individuals from young to older to experience the uniqueness of ballet and other dance styles and techniques.

“Ordway Conservatory is designed as a mock-company. We have three levels within our ‘company’ that our dancers rise through. They take class together and they are cast in two full-length

Ordway Conservatory offers classes for youth, ages 3 and up, as well as adults.

productions throughout the year. Our cast is 100% students,” Ordway said.

The conservatory has a creative movement class for dancers age 3 who are potty trained. Their classes explore movement through imagination and teach the names of basic steps and positions.

The institution also has elementary, intermediate and advanced ballet. Elementary classes are for ages 6 to 9, and intermediate classes are for ages 9 and up.

“They make up the corps de ballet (backdrop of principal dancers) and they dance the principal roles,” she said. “It’s a way for all of them to get to experience what a professional company is like — even if they don’t plan on pursuing dance as a career.”

A principal dancer is the highest rank in a ballet company. Principal dancers dance the leading roles in ballets, like Odette/ Odile in Swan Lake.

There is an advanced ballet class, which is a pre-professional division course that is a training program for those who plan to be professional dancers — dancers who are paid to dance for professional companies.

“Our pre-professional program goes through our dancers’ senior year of high school,” Ordway said. “If they are planning on becoming professional dancers, they will audition for companies during their senior year.”

“My advanced dancers take class with me an average of four hours a night and up to seven hours on Saturdays,” Ordway said. “Most of them are also honor students taking AP courses at school. Ballet training helps you learn to manage time well and prioritize.”

Male dancers are encouraged to join classes at Ordway Conservatory.

“We have male dancers,” Ordway said. “Which is wonderful because it allows us to work on pas de deuxs (a dance duet commonly done between a male and female dancer), and it helps us spread the message that boys dance too!”

Ordway Conservatory has classes for adult dancers, too.

“We offer an adult ballet fitness class for our adult students,” she said. “The class is full of mothers whose students dance at the conservatory and community members who have fond memories of dancing when they were young.”

Ordway Conservatory offers a variety of classes in addition to ballet. These classes help dancers become more well-rounded.

“A well-rounded dancer can handle a greater variety of roles,” Ordway said. “There are so many different career paths that a dancer can take. The more types of dance you’re familiar with, the more options you have. From dancing in a ballet company to dancing in music videos to choreographing for television. The possibilities are vast.”

Those possibilities have led her students to be successful after they graduate high school.

“Almost all of my students have continued to dance in some way or another after graduating,” she said. “Some of my former

Principal dancers dance the leading roles in productions.

students now teach for me, which makes me so happy. Some have gone on to dance professionally, and a couple are now fashion models.”

Adjusting to the Pandemic

While there are many great successes with the arts, the arts community (like many other communities) has been affected by COVID-19.

“We were ordered to close our location in March, and as of right now, we aren’t sure when we’ll be able to reopen,” Ordway said. “The arts were one of the first industries shut down and will be one of the last to reopen. As soon as we found out we would need to close, we began virtual lessons without missing a day of classes.”

She added that she and her students are still making the most of the pandemic.

“I am blessed to have very dedicated students who have been working extremely hard at home. The progress I’ve seen over the last couple months is inspiring and makes the extra work of virtual lessons all worth it. Our virtual lessons are very advantageous for our dancers, and we’ve even had several new students join us in the past few weeks.”

Dancers and teachers alike have found ways to have fun virtually.

“I wanted to keep things as normal and fun as possible for our (continues on page 29)