THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 23, 1995 TAG: 9511190035
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CORAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 118 lines
Jeremy Conner left his crossroads community home to join the Kansas State Ballet - a big leap for a 19-year-old ballet dancer.
``I looked at several companies. This seemed like the best,'' he says, adding this practical note: ``They pay a good amount of money.
``I'm still looking at the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company in Seattle. I had a good time there. I have a one-year contract with Kansas. If I like it, I'll stay. If not, I'll audition elsewhere.''
Talent and experience have put the young dancer into a bargaining position.
Conner has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, at Lincoln Center, and has done ``The Nutcracker'' four times. He danced with the Hungarian National Ballet and worked with teachers from Russia's famed Kirov Ballet Company.
Looking at a summary of companies and places, the word prestigious comes to mind.
Conner's mind used to be on basketball, baseball and tennis, but he put sports on the back burner to concentrate on dance.
Science also has become history, but while it was part of his young life he did well with it, winning first place in fifth- and sixth-grade science fairs at T.S. Cooper Elementary School in Sunbury.
Surfboarding and hunting are still part of his versatile life, as is rock 'n' roll.
Conner plays guitar, clarinet and saxophone, and he once piloted Satan in an Airplane, a heavy-metal band.
Even today, Metallica and Judas Priest tie in with Baryshnikov and Balanchine, Conner says.
``Before I dance, I listen to heavy metal. It's aggressive. It gives me the energy to go onstage.''
Getting him onstage required some family sacrifice.
``I'd like to have more things in the house,'' says his mother, Donna, a Gates County High School English teacher who says she and her husband, Michael, a director in the county school system, have spent ``every penny we had in ballet lessons.''
They're not pleading poverty, just tight times.
During the past 10 years, the Conners have been living in a handsomely quaint book- and antique-filled house that resembles an early American farm home, complete with a 1921 Magic Chef wood stove.
The parents consider the sacrifices on behalf of their son and his three dancing sisters worthwhile.
``Watching Jeremy dance - he's incredibly beautiful. He communicates extremely well,'' his mother says. ``And he's a wonderful performer.''
Getting to that point has left no money for a car for Conner. In Kansas City he has found a place within walking distance of his company.
``Dancing - I really like doing that. It involves me physically and mentally. There's something missing with other endeavors. In class, for instance, the physical part is missing. I'm good in school without having to study, so there's no challenge.''
The challenge of ballet began only four years ago for Conner.
``Before that, I was into baseball and basketball. I took ballet when I was 4, but I stopped immediately.''
His sister, Amanda, kept going and was dancing with Tidewater Ballet when her brother came to watch an end-of-the-year performance, featuring Elbert Watson, formerly a principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
``He wound up teaching me the next year. He was my mentor,'' says Conner, duly noting, ``I quickly moved up to the junior, then to the senior company.
``Watching him, when I went to see my sister perform - that was the first time I ever saw a man dance. I always thought ballet was just for girls.''
In fact, Conner says this familiar misconception has helped him.
``The competition is not as rough.''
But he's had other things going for him.
``I'd played sports, so I was athletic. Also, I was a natural. When I began, I couldn't even touch my knees. I could barely raise my leg. I was pretty awful. But I moved up fast because I could pick things up fast.''
Conner earned a scholarship to the North Carolina School of the Arts, graduating in 1993. He was 15 when he got into the second highest level. Next, he joined the School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Then it was time to make a career decision. In the summer of 1993, Conner performed with the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company, which offered him a scholarship for 1994.
``I turned it down because American Ballet suggested another year (of schooling) with them,'' Conner said. ``I liked Kansas State because it adheres to the style of Balanchine.''
Conner's 17-year-old sister, Amanda, also a Balanchine-style enthusiast, expects to join a professional company shortly.
Another sister, Meredith, 14, is at the North Carolina School of the Arts.
``She'll go further than the rest of us,'' her brother predicts. ``She began younger and has more natural talent.''
Jane Elizabeth, 11, studied ballet, stopped, and expects to return to it.
In addition to four ``Nutcracker'' performances, Conner danced to ``Petrouchka'' in North Carolina - ``choreographed by Najinsky, re-set by Nureyev,'' Conner says. ``I got to do a solo. It's often seen on PBS.''
He joined 30 other School of American Ballet dancers in a trip to Hungary - an opportunity to perform with the Hungarian National Ballet and to work with members of the Kirov Ballet.
Conner says he got into the School of American Ballet's two highest levels because he fit the school's requirements - talent plus the proper physical attributes.
``You have to be tall, skinny and have a perfect body,'' he says. ``Some men watching one of our classes represented the Metropolitan Opera. They were looking for some dancers.''
Conner was among the chosen.
``We did six performances of a Benjamin Britten opera. Performing at the Metropolitan was neat, really. I almost lost my breath the first time I got onstage there. But it's not good for ballet. The audience is so far from the stage. It's a beautiful theater, though.''
Conner's mother recalls a bet made with a friend who had been a dancer.
``I bet that whoever had the first kid, he or she would go to ballet school.
``But I never dreamed it would turn into this.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PAUL KOLNIK
Jeremy Conner and Liz Miner dance to the 3rd Theme from "The Four
Temperaments" for the School of American Ballet.
by CNB