Dedicated
To Dance

A 15-year-old practices long hours to reach high goals.

SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

hen Marion Phillips was grow-
ing up in Mexico, she wanted to
be a ballet dancer. Her father,
however, disapproved and dis-
couraged her.
Now, a generation later, Mrs.
Phillips' own daughter, Cindy,
has expressed the same artis-
tic interest. Fortunately for the
15-year-old, the family's re-
sponse is the opposite of what
her mother encountered.
While Mrs. Phillips helps with
the day-to-day practice routine,
Cindy's father and two older
brothers attend performances
and take pride in the teen-agees
achievements.
Cindy, a ninth-grader at
Kingswood who has danced
since age 5, performs with the
Oakland Festival Ballet Com-
pany (OFB) as she works toward

Cindy Phillips:
Lofty ambitions.

becoming a profes-
sional dancer.
For three hours a
day, five days a
week, Cindy re-
hearses for the
0113's spring concert
series. She will ap-
pear in several
dances, including a
segment from
"Sleeping Beauty,"
to be presented May 5-7 at the dancers improve so much," said
Royal Oak Campus of Oakland Cindy, who is left with little
time beyond high school and
Community College.
"I think that every individual ballet activities.
"I experience a lot of pain, but
has a strong point," said Mrs.
Phillips. "To some, it might be I think ballet is beautiful. I got
dance. To others, it might be my first point shoes when I was
mathematics or science or ice 9, and it was just such a thrill."
Cindy, who recently decided
skating. But a person who re-
ally likes something, tries as to give up membership in B'nai
hard as possible and gives it the B'rith Girls to spend more time
most, will get ahead as long as with ballet, has always danced.
After starting out with ballet,
that person keeps at it."
Cindy practices the convic- jazz and tap, she narrowed her
field at age 8.
tions her mother has voiced.
Because it soon became ap-
"It's tough to dance for so
parent
that dance was more
many hours, but it makes
than a hobby, Dr. and Mrs. Ed-
uardo Phillips enrolled their
daughter in the Rochester
School of Ballet. They were im-
pressed with the number of stu-
dents accepted to train or dance
with prestigious companies like
the Bolshoi or the Joffrey after
appearing with the school's own
not-for-profit company, the
OFB.
"Cindy will be featured in
four of the program selections
in May because of her versatil-
ity and technical ability," said
OFB artistic director Cornelia
Sampson. "She moves grace-
fully and quickly."
"The more experience a
dancer has on stage, the more
valuable a performer she be-
comes. I try to give my dancers
as much performance experi-

ence as possible. This helps to
prepare them for a profession-
al career."
Former students engaged as
paid stars for the spring concert
include Laurel Skousen (Cleve-
land Ballet), Jennifer Goodman
(Joffrey Ballet) and Michael An-
derson (Joffrey Ballet).
"Successful dancers have to
have strong bodies with classic
proportions, a sense of music
and rhythm and insight into
knowing how to apply correc-
tions," said Ms. Sampson, who
choreographed her company in
a Channel 56 presentation of
"The Nutcracker," which aired
last year. "Of course there has
to be talent and excellent train-
ing."
To allow Cindy to get excel-
lent training and performance
opportunities, activities at the
Phillips' household are planned
around the youngster's sched-
ule. Her older brothers — Mark,
26, a writer and economist, and
Tony, 22, an artist — are pur-
suing careers in other states.
"We are forever involved with
Cindy," Mrs. Phillips said. "We
eat dinner every night at 10 be-
cause that's when Cindy gets
home from dance class. Not only
do I drive her every single day
except Friday, which takes an
hour there and an hour back,

DEDICATED page 83

