From pirouettes to pliés, chaseé to echappé, Claire Clement and Grace Pullen know their ballet. The members of Agapé Dance Studio in Scotts Valley have been accepted into the prestigious Bolshoi Academy summer ballet intensive program for the summer of 2023, and both ballerinas are assemblé with delight.
Attending the summer intensive program will be a career highlight for Clement and Pullen, both of whom acknowledge that, much like the Oscars, there is pride in just being nominated.
“You’re dancing with the cream of the crop at those programs, and it’s a real honor to be considered,” Clement said.
Fifteen-year-old Clement, a freshman at Monte Vista Christian in Watsonville, started dancing with Agapé when she was 9-1/2 under the direction of owner/founder Melanie Useldinger.
“She really loves her students and she really cares about the studio,” Clement said.
Pullen, 10, started with Agapé when she was only 4 years old, and has remained with the company ever since. Although she is homeschooled in San Jose, she’s committed to Agapé due to the sense of community she feels.
Useldinger is quick to praise the girls for their talent and tenacity.
“When Claire was younger, she kept trying to quit. She’s a really high achiever—even at the age of 10, she was never accepting of any imperfection she saw in herself,” Useldinger said. “After practice was over, I’d run after her and her parents, begging them not to let her quit. She was so talented then, and she’s even more so now. It’s incredible to see how far she’s come in five years, and I’m glad we kept chasing her down.”
When the girls travel to the Bolshoi Academy to participate in the intensive this summer, Useldinger said they will find a mix of contemporary dance blended with traditional ballet instruction. Ballet is the mastery, she said, and it connects all the other dances together.
“You can see ballet moves in contemporary dance. Ballet is so strict, so when you branch off into other types of dance, you’ll still keep that exactness that was learned in the studio,” Clement said.
After Pullen bids farewell to her classmates in June, she’ll be heading to Connecticut to dance at one of the Bolshoi satellite studios, as well as the School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center in New York, and possibly the Paris Opera (acceptance letters from the Paris Opera are highly coveted and rare to receive, so Pullen is eagerly checking the mail every day).
Clement has been auditioning for the summer intensives for the last two years.
“I didn’t really want to attend, but I wanted the experience of auditioning. I got into the Bolshoi Academy that’s based in New York for dancers ages 15-plus, which I’m really excited about. Grace and I will be dancing essentially the same type of curriculum, and it’s going to be really fun. I’ll be staying with three other girls, and I’ve never traveled by myself, so this will be an exciting adventure,” Clement said.
Exciting adventures don’t come cheap, and both dancers are grateful to their families for their support—financial and otherwise.
“My parents are so loving, and they believe this will be a great experience for me,” said Clement, who is looking forward to living independently and going grocery shopping on her own.
“It will be a great opportunity, and I’m excited to go,” added Pullen, who will be staying with a chaperone on her trip. “I think it’s really kind of my parents to let me do these things, and to support me like they do.”
Pullen was very surprised that she was accepted to the summer intensive program given the long, difficult combinations she had to complete during her audition.
“I felt very accomplished when I got in,” she said.
Clement felt the same way.
“It was pretty intimidating to see all the other dancers at auditions, but I tried my hardest to do my best, and I can’t wait to go,” she said.
