Students from Walnut Hill School for the Arts perform Gerald Arpino’s Birthday Variations during the school’s anniversary gala at The Joyce Theater. Christopher Duggan, Courtesy Walnut Hill School for the Arts.

Career

What to Watch: Walnut Hill Students Ask Star Alumni for Advice on Starting a Dance Career

Amy Brandt

April 28, 2019

If you could ask a professional dancer’s advice for starting a ballet career, what would you want to know?

Earlier this month, Walnut Hill School for the Arts celebrated its 125th anniversary with a gala performance of students and alumni at New York City’s Joyce Theater. And with graduation on the horizon, we thought it would be fun to arrange a Q&A session between upper level ballet students and the visiting graduates of Walnut Hill School for the Arts, among them San Francisco Ballet principal Joseph Walsh ’06, Houston Ballet soloist Harper Watters ’10, Ballet Arizona dancer Alison Remmers ’12 and former Sacramento Ballet/Twyla Tharp dancer Charlie Hodges ’98.

Shortly after they finished an onstage run-through of Gerald Arpino’s Birthday Variations—a fitting tribute to the school’s milestone anniversary—Walnut Hill students Kannen Glanz and Grace Sellers (both juniors) and seniors Rylan Joenk, Amanda Jue, Alisha Ragatz and Caitlin Sendlenski sat down with the pros to ask for their advice on starting a dance career. Check it out below!