Determination and focus keep this Thornhill teen on her toes.

From high-school student in Thornhill to dance student in Moscow, ballerina Sarah Clark has always set her sights high – to become a prima ballerina.

Sarah Clark, born in Toronto in 1987, has been dancing since she was four years old.  Sarah explains: “My mother wanted an artistic child so she signed me up for ballet, gymnastics, jazz, painting, piano, drawing – everything! But when I turned eight, I had to decide between continuing in ballet or in gymnastics.  I really have no idea why I chose ballet. I loved both.”

Sarah’s family moved from Newmarket to Thornhill where she attended Woodland Public School and Royal Orchard Public School, then Pushkin Private School. Her mother Elena, born in Kiev, works as a computer consultant and her father, David, born in Canada, is a banker. She has two brothers: Chris, who prefers hockey to ballet, and older brother Len who is married and raising a family.

How has a young girl, just 17 years old, achieved such success in the world of classical dance?
It all began with her attendance at the Academy of Ballet & Jazz in Thornhill. Her teacher at the school, Nadia Veselova Tencer, trained at the prestigious Vaganova School in St. Petersburg, Russia.

“During my time at the school, I have performed all of the traditional child roles in such presentations as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Thumbelina, and The Nutcracker. My dream role right now is Giselle,” said Sarah.

‘The director of the Bolshoi School called Sarah to say she had been accepted.’

How did Sarah become so successful on the competitive ballet stage at such an early age? Her teacher entered Sarah in her first competition just to see how she would handle the pressure.  Not only did Sarah handle the stress of the competition with aplomb and maturity, she made it all the way to the finals.  She didn’t win that competition, but the photo taken of her in the finals was then used in promotions for the North American ballet and contemporary dance competition, Youth America Grand Prix.

With so much encouragement from the professional dance community, Nadia decided Sarah was ready to attend professional ballet school and sent a videotape of the young dancer to the Bolshoi School in Moscow. The tape was simply a collection of video clips and stills showing Sarah practicing at the bar, performing in competitions, school performances, and newspaper photos, etc.

The tape obviously did the job. The Director of The Bolshoi School called Sarah to say she had been accepted into her class.

Sarah left Canada for Russia to enter the graduating class of the school in Moscow in August 2002. She was just 15 years old and in Grade 10. She spent the next two years in Moscow as a full-time resident student at The Bolshoi School, paid for by her parents. Her training and academic schedules were rigorous, but she loved every minute of it.

From 9 to11:30am Sarah would be taught the regular academic subjects such as math, history, and geography.  From noon until 2pm she took solo ballet training and, from 2 until 4pm, was instructed in learning to dance with a partner. Sarah also studied to speak Russian because 80 per cent of academic studies were taught in Russian. Sarah adapted to the rigorous school routine very quickly and now speaks Russian and French fluently.

All of the ballet training at the school was related to preparing for an actual show. Sarah  is 5 feet, 8 inches tall, which is the perfect height for a ballerina. Because of this, she was cast as the centre swan in Swan Lake at the Bolshoi school.

Sarah is always eager to talk about her experiences in Moscow. “Russia is not how it is usually depicted in movies or on television.  They have all of the usual modern conveniences, fantastic shopping malls, and a great subway system.”

Now that she’s back in Canada, will she become a professional ballet dancer soon? Sarah explains: “When you graduate from ballet school, you can already call yourself a professional dancer.  But then you have to apply to dance with a company so that you actually get paid for performing.”

After graduation in Moscow, Sarah came back to Canada and only a month later Nadia Tencer took her to Bulgaria for another ballet competition. Sarah again advanced to the the finals. And that’s where she stopped. It wasn’t lack of talent that ended the competition for her, it was politics.  She simply wouldn’t pay the expected bribes to the judges. However, as a result of having danced in this competition, Sarah did receive two offers from dance companies, one of which was the highly respected Luxembourg Ballet Company.

Sarah came back to Canada to earn her high-school diploma, something she had insisted on doing no matter where her dance career led her at this point in her life. She has also traveled to the United States to audition for various dance companies and even received a preliminary offer from the American Ballet Theatre in New York City. They’ll just have to wait a bit longer because Sarah has also received a firm offer from the prestigious  Ballet Internationale in Indianapolis, and she has accepted it. She begins her professional career as a dancer with that company next month.

Sarah loves living in Thornhill because “….everything I need is right here around me. I can live in a cosmopolitan centre such as Toronto, without actually having to live in the city of Toronto.”

She enjoys the neighbourhood she lives in and all the amenities it offers.  “Restaurants, art galleries, boutiques, shopping areas – they’re all within walking distance.” The biggest difference between living in Thornhill and Moscow is how it affects her social life.

“It’s easier to cope in Russia because all my friends have the same goal, which is to become a dancer.  Here in Canada, my friends often don’t understand why I have to go to practice instead of going out to a party or a club with them.  But it’s because I want to, not because I have to.  My dedication comes easy to me because of the goals I have set for myself.”

And whatever little setbacks may appear along the way, Sarah’s philosophy of life is simple: “Never give up.  The sun will shine again tomorrow.”

Sarah is also interested in psychology and is considering studying for a degree in that discipline.  She is also considered trying her hand at acting and modeling.

But it’s not her hands that are leading her heart at the moment. It is her legs – a dancer’s legs – and her main goal as a dancer is to become a Prima Ballerina.