{"id":132071,"date":"2022-10-17T09:34:17","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T13:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=132071"},"modified":"2023-03-20T14:14:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T18:14:33","slug":"raising-the-barre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2022\/10\/17\/raising-the-barre\/","title":{"rendered":"Raising the barre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olivia Bruno, a senior dance major<\/a> at Wright State University, realized a lifelong dream of dancing professionally when she joined Dayton Ballet for its 2022\u20132023 season.<\/p>\n

Bruno, who grew up in Oakwood, began training in ballet at the age of 2 and has been striving to become a professional dancer since she was 9. She began training at the Pontecorvo Ballet Studios and has also performed with Dayton Ballet\u2019s second company, Dayton Ballet II, an audition-only preprofessional training program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many things I love about dance. The main thing for me is probably the artistic expression of it all,\u201d she said. \u201cI need that outlet in my life and that\u2019s my favorite medium to use because it\u2019s so physical.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a member of Dayton Ballet II, Bruno studied under its co-director, Megan Forney, who is a 2008 graduate of Wright State\u2019s Dance Program.<\/p>\n

Forney said the partnership between the Dayton Ballet and Wright State prepares students as performers, not just because of the great instructors and training at Wright State, but it also gives them a glimpse of what that professional life is like.<\/p>\n

She said that she is very glad that Bruno joined the Dayton Ballet and hopes that her successful transition from student to professional will become an example for other Wright State students and the ballet\u2019s second company dancers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Olivia Bruno, a senior dance major at Wright State, will dance professionally with Dayton Ballet during its 2022\u20132023 season.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cOlivia is a really dynamic performer. She looks at ease on stage and has a way of making things look fun and exciting and easy,\u201d Forney said. \u201cShe\u2019s a really hard worker and a really good student in class. It\u2019s a big accomplishment to go from DB2 (Dayton Ballet II) to a professional member of the company. It\u2019s not something that happens that often.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before attending Wright State, Bruno went on a bit of a journey. After high school, she interned with the Nashville Ballet Company, then she joined BalletMet in Columbus before enrolling at Wright State.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the Dance Program here, where we can dance all day and move and still get our degree,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been double the work because I dance with Wright State and in the evenings I dance with Dayton Ballet\u2019s second company. So, it\u2019s been a little bit of extra work for me, but it paid off because now I\u2019m in the position where I am a professional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruno said that had she not gone to Wright State the opportunity to dance with Dayton Ballet would have been a lot harder to obtain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWright State has set up a partnership for students to go down a path where they are making connections with Dayton Ballet. Without that, I really would have been on my own,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s not really a place in the world for people who are in between their professional life and their student life. So, it\u2019s kind of bridged that gap for me, so that I could transition from student to professional and make those connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to accepting the professional position, Bruno performed with Dayton Ballet\u2019s Main Company in \u201cCinderella,\u201d \u201cThe Nutcracker\u201d and \u201cThe Great Gatsby.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Olivia Bruno rehearsing with other company dancers at Dayton Ballet.<\/p><\/div>\n

She is really excited to get to participate in the company\u2019s four performances this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cDancing full-time from nine to four is completely different from dancing just a couple of hours a day,\u201d Bruno said. \u201cI\u2019ve grown so much from just my small experiences with them. So, I\u2019m really excited to have a whole season with them. I think I will definitely grow a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what the future holds for Bruno, that is yet to be seen. For now, she plans to stay in Dayton.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like the community,\u201d she said. \u201cI think we are really accepting of the arts and supportive of the arts in Dayton. So, I really enjoy dancing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to attending classes at Wright State and dancing Bruno is a teacher with Dayton Ballet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olivia Bruno, a senior dance major at Wright State, realized a lifelong dream of dancing professionally when she joined Dayton Ballet for its 2022\u20132023 season. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":132088,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2037,4859,727,747,715,4298,720],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-arts-scene","category-fine-and-performing-arts","category-homepage-photos-and-video","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-student-profile","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132071"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132113,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132071\/revisions\/132113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}