'Ballet is my power'

Sixteen years ago, Lauren Fagone began a love affair that would consume countless hours of tireless dedication and resolution.\nSixteen years ago, images of ballerinas on television enthralled the Pennsylvania native. Her mother found the 4-year-old sitting motionless before the set, mesmerized by what she'd seen, consumed by fascination. \nSixteen years later, Fagone, a senior, is miles and worlds apart from the YMCA ballet classes, from the little girl with stars in her eyes. She's arrived and carved a niche for herself in IU's ballet program, a department regarded as one of the nation's best. The quality of the music school faculty has four times led the deans and faculty members of the country's music schools to rank IU No. 1 in the nation, according to the School of Music's Web site. \nThe curriculum for ballet majors includes classes in ballet technique, pointe, variations, adagio, men's class and jazz dance. In addition to the curriculum, ballet majors take two semesters of pedagogy and have many opportunities to perform.\n"I did not know what to expect of the program in terms of intensity or talent when I first came to IU, but since then I have been in awe of the incredible talent, dedication and passion that the dancers here possess," Fagone says. "I was also unsure how the faculty would see me as a dancer when I came because I arrived at IU without much confidence and with a lot of uncertainty about my own abilities." \nNot that she now has much time to worry with insecurities.\nHer days are now filled with technique and pointe classes, as well as individual coaching sessions and production rehearsals. But she claims she's never felt subordinate to other dancers in the department.\n"I've never felt that the atmosphere here is competitive in a cutthroat or negative way," she says. "The department is relatively small, and we all spend so much time together on a daily basis that we've become each other's greatest supporters. It's a wonderful and probably somewhat unique environment where friends compliment each other on accomplishments in class and where encouragement is so group-oriented."\nFagone says she believes one of dancing's most striking characteristics is the role audiences play in a successful performance. Though the craft requires a physical separation of performer and audience, the dancer must convey an entire spectrum of emotion through careful, precise movement.\n"The separation exists to force the dancers to give themselves to the audience so purely and strongly that the audience can feel what you are feeling and can be involved in the story that you are telling," she says. "I overcome fear when I dance, and I guess in that way, ballet is my power."\nThat power has caught the attention of the faculty overseeing her training.\n"Lauren is one of the most talented dancers I've ever known," says Virginia Cesbron, an instructor present at Fagone's IU audition who has mentored her for the past two years. "She's like a sponge; she absorbs everything."\nCesbron believes Fagone has potential to dance professionally. "She's a choreographer's dream," Cesbron says. "When you show her something, she immediately makes it her own."\nThe effervescent senior has certainly been busy; since coming to IU, she has danced the roles of both Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy in Tschaikovsky's "The Nutcracker." During the 1999 season, she portrayed the bride in "Les Noces" and was part of a trio in Virginia Cesbron's "As Much as the Wind Has Taken."\n In the fall of 2000, she performed in "Les Sylphides" and Virginia Cesbron's "From Molly Again." Fagone additionally was a soloist in Jacque Cesbron's "Time Landscapes," a ballet with music composed by music professor David Baker.\n In the spring of the same year, Fagone executed the principal role in Mark Godden's contemporary ballet "Minor Threat." She also performed a pas de deux in Jacques Cesbron's "Souvenir de Florence," a part she deems one of her favorites since her college career's inception.\nFagone also serves as something of a mentor herself. Last October, she began instructing a Saturday morning creative movement class for young children. Though she is admittedly sometimes "more a student than teacher," Fagone says these weekend hours are ultimately rewarding. \n"I don't really remember much of my first ballet classes when I was that age, so I think that is why I adore these classes so much," she laughs. "I get to sing songs and run around, and play games ... sounds like time well spent to me"