CENTER STAGE: ALEXANDRA PULLEN

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Written by Elyse Moody.
Cover photo by Rosalie O’Connor courtesy of American Ballet Theatre.

“Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to be in American Ballet Theatre, like my mom.” – Alexandra Pullen

ABT Studio Company member Alexandra Pullen has been dreaming about this moment since she was five. “When I was growing up, we’d go to the ballet in Chicago,” she says. “The first time we went, we saw Swan Lake, with Julie Kent,” who is currently one of ABT’s Principal Dancers. “I told my mom that I wanted to be one of those little swans!”

Today, in the hallway outside one of ABT’s studios, Alexandra is talking to Kent about her plans for next year. Amazingly enough, this eighteen-year old now rehearses at the same barre, in the same renowned building on Broadway, as her onetime idol. Alexandra’s dream is well on its way to coming true.

She has worked incredibly hard to make it happen. At home in Chicago, Alexandra condensed her high school classes to graduate early and get a head start on her career as a professional dancer. She took the train into downtown Chicago every day for evening ballet classes at Joffrey — and spent her Saturdays there, too. She grew accustomed to dancing six days a week, but she wanted more opportunities to perform.

In the summer of 2012, she received a scholarship to attend ABT’s five-week summer intensive program in New York City. She planned to return to Chicago afterward, to work with Joffrey’s studio company, but after only three weeks, Franco De Vita, principal of ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, asked her to stay for a full year.

Alexandra, the first recipient of the Shoot for Change Scholarship — created by fashiontographer’s Editor-in-Chief Walter Grio — was one of the few selected from about 300 summer intensive program students who were asked to continue their studies at ABT. And she was one of only four female students in her level who received a full scholarship.

A year’s tuition at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School costs $7,500, not including housing and living expenses. “When Mr. De Vita asked me to stay for the year, he said, ‘We also want to give you a scholarship because we know that it will be difficult for you to come if you have to pay,’” Alexandra says. “Just living here alone is a lot. And also because I have five siblings, I wouldn’t have been able to come.”

That’s the special motivation behind Alexandra’s drive to succeed: her family, but not just her ballerina mom. Of her five siblings, three are younger sisters who love ballet. The youngest, Isabella, who’s eight, dreams of being in ABT too. “Whenever I’m home, I go and watch her ballet classes,” Alexandra says. “I spend a lot of time with my sisters and try to be a good role model. I know they look up to me and that makes me want to succeed that much more — because I have all these little people wanting to be like me. I want to be someone that I want them to emulate.”

A typical day for Alexandra starts with a two-hour technique class at 11 a.m., then, after a half-hour break, three hours of afternoon rehearsals and Pilates or modern dance or character class. She has Saturdays and Sundays off — and loves exploring the city, which she describes as totally different from her hometown of Chicago. “It’s cool to be around so many different cultures, even if you’re just walking around Manhattan,” she says. “I also got to go to Fashion Week and be exposed to all these things that I’d heard about and seen on TV.”

Studying at ABT has pushed Alexandra to elevate her talents. “I feel that now I’m improving a lot faster because I work longer during the day on technique,” she says. She entered the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School as a Level 7 student, but within four weeks she was promoted to Studio Company, which means being part of an elite group of six girls and six boys who are cast more frequently in productions.

In April, Alexandra received more good news: “For next year, I didn’t expect anything. I was just hoping to be in Studio Company again,” she says. “But I had my appointment with Kevin McKenzie [ABT’s artistic director], and he said, ‘We want you to be an apprentice.’ I wasn’t expecting that at all, so that was really exciting.” She described the apprenticeship as “a trial period for the Corps de Ballet.” As an apprentice, she’ll get to do much more of what she loves best: dancing onstage, in front of an audience. “My favorite thing is performing, definitely. I like learning how to put everything together.” ABT apprentices perform in The Nutcracker and tour with the company.

When asked where she sees herself in the next few years, Alexandra puts her ambitions modestly. “I hope to be a Corps de Ballet member of American Ballet Theatre — that would be amazing. There are roles that I would love to dance, but for now I would be really happy just to be in ABT.”

One day, like any aspiring ballerina, she hopes to be cast in one of the classic lead protagonist roles, but especially Juliet in Romeo and Juliet — a part her mom once performed as an ABT dancer. “My mom wanted me to dance because she wanted to be able to share something with me, but she never really pushed me because she wanted me to do what I wanted to do,” Alexandra says. “In the end she’s really happy that I’ve enjoyed it so much and that’s what I want.”

Her younger sisters already look up to her. But given her poise and dedication, it’s safe to say that Alexandra soon will be the ballerina who inspires many young girls to be “one of those little swans” after they see their first American Ballet Theatre performance.

Elyse Moody is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor who enjoys covering books, culture, travel, science, and nature. She has written for (published and forthcoming): ELLE, ELLE.com, Creative Nonfiction, The Daily Beast, BBC Travel, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Popular Mechanics, among other publications. Elyse has undergraduate degrees in English and journalism from Washington and Lee University in the Shenandoah Valley and a master’s in nonfiction writing from Johns Hopkins University. You can view her portfolio here and follow her on Twitter.