Chapter 67

I had a few days to be at home before heading out to travel for a week. Normally I would be excited, but Melody's pregnancy was advancing and I was missing out on pas de deux practice with Braxton. I was able to consolidate my schedule into seven days and mentally prepared for a busy week. First I had an interview and photoshoots with Pointe Magazine, which I was looking forward to. We started with a photoshoot in New York, and I was able to wear whatever I liked. I chose a black leotard with gray tights, and had my hair up in a bun.

The photoshoot was good practice for balance; I held pointe positions while the camerapeople got the best angle. Everyone praised me for it, a nice change after basically being ignored except for Nyssa in classes at the ALDC. The interview was that afternoon and I sat down with Greta Windenburg, this time in regular but nice clothes.

"Welcome, Joanne!" Greta said to me. "We've wanted you in for a while, but schedules didn't quite work out. But you're on a break from filming Dance Moms right now?"

"Yes, it'll be two months, then we have a few competitions on air before another break," I explained. "There's a few Regionals that I'll be attending, but I'll mostly be training."

"Excellent! This is your last season on the show, then you'll be joining New York Ballet as an apprentice. Tell me how that came to be."

I nodded. "I got a call from the director of New York Ballet, actually. I was already planning to apply but she beat me to it, I guess. I was only contracted for three seasons on the show at that point anyway, and would probably have gone full-time to Joffrey Ballet if I hadn't gotten a spot with New York Ballet."

"You got a call? That's so rare, congratulations."

I blushed slightly. "It was a huge surprise and honor."

"I bet it was! How do you feel about leaving your aunt's house and moving to New York? You'll only be fourteen at that point, very young."

I nodded once again. "It's certainly daunting to think about, but I'll be with the other apprentices and some of them ought to be near my age. My sister Melody will join me for painting in New York after she graduates high school, and her boyfriend and my pas de deux partner Braxton will also be going to New York Ballet. Not to mention that my girlfriend Ursula will also be in New York."

"It seems like you have a big support system!"

"I do," I smiled.

"Let's move on to dance. What initially made you start dancing, and why did you get into ballet in particular?"

"I've been pretty open about this, but I didn't have a very happy childhood. I got into dance at three because my parents approved of the activity and even then I wanted to get away from them. That said, I've loved dance since before I can really remember, and ballet spoke to me because you have to be patient and exact with your movements. It's not the flashiest style, but I adore it."

"You dance with a lot of passion, and that comes through in your performances," Greta complimented. "You have a high performance quality."

"Thank you. I think that doing non-ballet competitions so much really helps with that. Besides, we have so little time to learn dances on the show that I feel super comfortable with the months of time to learn YAGP dances."

"Let's talk about YAGP. You're coming in as the defending Junior champion. How do you feel about that? Is it more or less pressure?"

"Certainly more pressure, at the semi-final that I competed in I certainly felt it. Now I'm at the top of the Junior scale, instead of just qualifying as a Junior. I have been working on my pieces for a long time and I do feel confident with them, though. I generally handle pressure well, probably because I've been competing since I was five."

"You've mentioned on Dance Moms that you don't compete to win, though you're currently undefeated for four years. How does that work?"

"It's not as if I don't care or don't work hard. It's more that instead of trying to win, because that's up to the judges, I go out and try to perform the best I can with whatever the dance may be. I do feel pressure to win when it comes time for bigger competitions such as nationals."

"That makes a lot more sense, you seem like a very ambitious girl."

"That's true. I won't step on anyone to get to where I want to go, but I have big goals."

"That's great, in my book. So, how do you think the team will fare after you and Ursula leave?"

"I think they'll do just fine. There are so many people on the team right now that it's quite chaotic in groups anyway, and half the time Brooke, Ursula or I have to sit out a dance for age reasons, especially since I'm almost fourteen. Every dancer is great and I think they'll get more of a chance to shine, especially Maddie, Paige, Kendall and Nicaya, who don't get as many opportunities as others. I've seen people like Nia get a lot better with more pressure."

"Eleven people is not a small group," Greta agreed. "From the episodes that have aired, you've had a solo almost every week. Does that impact your preparation for YAGP?"

"Not really. I compete a solo every week, they're just not aired all the time, actually. I do most of my training alone now, which is not the greatest situation, and makes me even more excited for next fall."

"Aren't there senior classes at the ALDC?"

"Yes, but I've graduated from them," I replied. "It's not a ballet studio, I knew that going in. I like it there, and I'll be sad to leave."

The interview went well, and the rest of the week flew by, with me returning home to my family happily.