Esha Iyengar, a 12-year-old Wilton girl, is getting the opportunity of a lifetime this summer. She’s one of only three local dancers from Fleur de Lis Dance Academy attending the prestigious American Academy of Ballet Summer School of Excellence this summer.
One of the highlights has been performing at the annual American Academy of Ballet Technique Intensive at Purchase College, Westchester, last Friday, July 3. The show featured performances with 220 international and local dancers from 11 countries and 23 U.S. states. The dancers performed excerpts from the classical ballets as well as original choreography by the faculty teachers.
Michelle Sperry, founder and director of Wilton’s Fleur de Lis Dance Academy, is proud to have many of her students accepted and three of them attending.
“We are the only American Academy of Ballet affiliate in Fairfield County and our dancers work extremely hard to prepare for our intense dance season and then to audition and attend the AAB summer program and performances.”
Founded by Mignon Furman, the AAB Summer School of Excellence trains dancers to improve their classical ballet technique and performing abilities. Dancers receive world-class training from distinguished faculty that includes former dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet, Vaganova Academy in Russia, Kirov Ballet, and New York City Ballet.
The first week of this five-week summer program is the Ballet Technique Intensive, followed by four more weeks that include jazz, Spanish and personal coaching in small groups of 5-8 dancers.
Sperry implements the AAB syllabus at her studio and offers dancers at Fleur de Lis the opportunity to train on that program. Anyone interested in learning more can visit the Fleur de Lis website.
Esha Iyengar is pictured above, right with Isabella Sperry of Weston and Rebecca Szabo of Norwalk.