Lisa Avery

My hero is not someone known by many people, she is not someone who saves lives or rescues people who are in mortal peril. My hero is a mentor, a guiding force that shows me where I want to be and what I want to do in the future.

My hero is Ms. Avery. Her career in classical ballet began in upstate New York at the Botsford School of Dance and the Hurhyre School of Ballet. She trained with the New York City Ballet after receiving a scholarship to the New York State Summer School of the Arts. Bohdan Borys (principal dancer at the Grande Theatre Ballet of Warsaw, Poland) selected Ms. Avery to receive private training and offered her a soloist position with the Warsaw Ballet upon completion of her training with him. She later accepted the position of principal dancer with Liabrane Dance Ensemble in New York. Here she developed her teaching and choreographic career, which led to various positions with prominent schools throughout the U.S., including the Botsford School of Dance (NY), Contra Costa Ballet and Ballet Diablo (CA) and several schools in Virginia.

Ms. Avery is a ballet Instructor currently in Fredericksburg who trains male and female ballet students to become top quality professional dancers. She creates an environment that is conducive for a dancer’s growth both physically and mentally. She has recently had dancers go on to be in such professional companies such as the Royal Danish Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and many others. Her dancers have been known worldwide for their expertise and precision in the way they dance.

When I grow up, I know that I’m going to be a dancer. That has been something that I have wanted to do since my mother first placed me in a creative movement class as a three year old in Ashland, Oregon. When I moved to Fredericksburg, I discovered a vast number of classical Ballet training schools within the Fredericksburg area. I have now been training under Ms. Avery for nearly 5 years. This has been an invaluable stage of my training because Ms. Avery is setting me up for success when I go to another dance school or a performing arts college.

Besides the invaluable ballet and strengthening training that I receive from Ms. Avery, there is another element of training that is much more psychological and artistic than the brute force effort side of Ballet. Ms. Avery is my mentor and, because of her, I know what I want to do with my life, and I know that I want to be a dancer, a male Ballet dancer working for a major company. Through the struggle to perfect the art of dance, and create the strength needed to back up that art, I feel that Ms. Avery is a person who understands how to deal with the pressure of a society that mostly does not accept male Ballet dancers because of the stereotypes.

I’m proud to call Ms. Avery my mentor and hero as I strive to become a better dancer, and a more accomplished person as I progress through life. She knows that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life; it will always have something to do with dancing and music. A hero in my eyes is someone who is important, someone who knows what it’s like, and how to make the best of life. A hero is someone who is great, but cares solely about the individual. My hero is great and accomplished, but she wants that for me. I am a ballet dancer and my hero is Ms. Avery.