Corey Landolt is in his ninth
season with The Washington
Ballet. The New Jersey native
grew up on the border of Voor-
hees and West Berlin, and first
studied at the Academy of Bal-
let in Berlin, New Jersey under
David Gallagher. His interest in
ballet began when he was about
five years old and saw his sister
performing in The Nutcracker.
“Like most of the dancers that
initially got into ballet from The
Nutcracker, it inspired me,” ex-
plained Landolt. “I saw the sol-
diers on stage during the battle
scene and said, ‘I want to do that’
to my mom. She took that as,
‘Let’s get you into ballet lessons.’”
Landolt says he was about 14
when he realized that a career as
a professional ballet dancer was
an actual possibility. He knew
that his work effort was strong
enough, so when he was told at
summer intensives that he had
the potential, he focused on
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 49
making it happen.
His advice for those growing up
who are interested in pursuing
ballet is to find a performing arts
school, which offers better train-
ing and surrounds a young artist
with others with a similar focus
and drive.
“If you have the passion and
discipline, find a performing arts
high school,” said Landolt. “I at-
tended the University of North
Carolina School of the Arts when
I was 16 for my junior year of
high school. Then I left one year
later to start with the American
Ballet Theatre Studio Company
Associate Program. It afforded
me the opportunity to have my
academic education and my
arts education consolidated into
one, and it gave me exposure to
amazing teachers and a network
of other students of the arts.”
Taking the leap from high
school in New Jersey to a per-
forming arts school hundreds of
INDEX
NEXT ARTICLE
39