If you were to see Carly Herrmann in the hallways or in class, you may not be aware of the talent she has in the studio: she dances for a pre-professional company in Chicago, the Joffrey Ballet Company, and plans to pursue being a professional dancer.
This is Herrmann’s third year at Joffrey, as she joined the company when she was just a freshman. She found out about it through Haley Johnson, a former LHS student who graduated last year and was a part of the company for all four years of high school.
“When we were figuring out where I was going to go to high school, my dad wanted me to go to Carmel since I went to Saint Joe’s and so the options were staying where I trained back in eighth grade at Dance Academy and then going to Carmel or I could go to Libertyville High School and then go to Joffrey, so I ended up going to Joffrey,” she said.
However Carly continues to work privately with Juliet Stephenson, the owner of the Dance Academy of Libertyville.
“Juliet has been involved in my dancing career since I started at three years old. I always looked to Juliet for guidance,” Carly shared.
Although being at Joffrey definitely has its benefits pertaining to preparing for her future, Herrmann finds that it’s hard for her to do other activities and hang out with friends like some students at LHS are able to do. She has such a crazy schedule that every minute has to be used wisely.
“Well, I don’t have a social life, that’s for sure,” Herrmann admitted, laughing.
Herrmann’s day begins just as any student’s would: getting up early and going to school. After school gets out, Herrmann rushes to catch the 3:10 train to get to Joffrey. The train ride is about an hour and a half long, so Herrmann does her hair, eats dinner, and sleeps in order to prepare for a long night ahead of her.
By the time she gets to Chicago, it’s 4:20, and to get to her class, she has to walk about 20 minutes. Dance starts at 5, so she usually has a little time to stretch beforehand. Class ends at 8:30, and the night would usually consist of ballet and pointe, followed by a style class, such as character, modern, or contemporary.
The ballet/pointe style of dance focuses on classical technique, with pointe focusing on pointe work, where dancers support all of their body weight on top of fully extended feet. Character is a subdivision of classical dance, and allows for ballet dancers to develop their characters and personality for the theatrical aspect of dancing. Modern, on the other hand, is seen as a rejection of ballet, with more free-flowing movements as opposed to following classic technique. Contemporary combines the styles of ballet, jazz, and modern and is now the most commonly seen style to be performed.
Most nights, Herrmann then takes the 8:10 train and gets home around 9:45; however on Tuesday nights — since it’s a late start the next morning — she’s on the 9:45 train and gets home at 11:15.
Herrmann is already planning for the future because her dreams of becoming a professional dancer will take all the hard work she’s putting in. As of this moment, she sees landing a spot in a professional company as a priority first and then whether she wishes to go to college later will be thought of next.
“I actually got accepted into Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s year-round and summer intensive program, so this is actually most likely going to be my last year of high school and then when I’m a senior, I’m going to be doing online school,” Herrmann explained.
Despite her crazy long weeknights, on the weekends Herrmann manages to make time for fun with friends and has many activities that she enjoys doing as a break from her hectic schedule. Although the little free time she has doesn’t allow for much, as most of the time she is only free early in the morning, she makes sure to spend time with the people who matter.
“We went laser-tagging the other weekend. We hang out, we drive around, watch movies, hang out with friends,” shared one of Herrmann’s friends, junior Sahaj Patel.
Despite the fact that Herrmann has more commitments than the average student, she never asks for special treatment from her teachers and still finds time to do all of her obligations for school, showing that she is willing to work hard in all of the aspects of her life, not just dance.
“She has her priorities really in line and even though she knows that dance could potentially turn into a career for her, she understands that the academics do still matter and I’m glad that she’s not just pushing that aside. So I think it’s really mature because I think a lot of kids might see: ‘oh, I might have this other ticket to get me to the next level’ and forget about school, but she cares about both,” Ms. Sarah Greenswag, Herrmann’s U.S. History teacher, noted.
Teachers and students in Herrmann’s classes enjoy being around her with her energetic and positive energy brightening up the classroom atmosphere.
“I always find Carly to be extremely polite and easy-going, and I never really have heard her complain about anything, and whenever we are doing group work and I walk around and talk to groups, I always find her to get along with everybody really well and with me,” Mr. Dave Lapish, Carly’s American Lit teacher, affirmed.
Herrmann’s teachers also see potential in her and foresee her doing great things based on how she carries herself and how she acts in the classroom. Her personality and attitude also contribute to the effort she’s been putting in.
“I think if as a 16 or 17-year-old, she has her head on straight and she’s able to manage a lot of demands and a high pressure thing too, like I think ballet is so high pressure, I think there’s a really strong expectation on her, so I think she’s able to handle the pressure and a lot of demands and she’ll do well with that,” Ms. Greenswag said.
Herrmann doesn’t just partake in performances at Joffrey, but also in other companies. She enjoys the performance aspect of dancing so much that she makes sure that she can expose herself to it as much as possible.
“Joffrey will have their Nutcracker, and I’m always in that, and then Joffrey will also have their spring performance, so most of the time I perform 6 or 7 times a year. But this year instead of staying at Joffrey, I did a Nutcracker with the Schaumburg Ballet Theatre and I was able to perform 12 times, which was really great because normally at Joffrey we don’t perform that much,” Herrmann said. “But I was able to do that and then also I am currently with Dance Academy’s Ballet Company Theatre doing ‘Peter and The Wolf’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’… It’s great; I love performing, I just love being on stage and enjoying everything that goes along with preparing for the show and all the rehearsals.”
Carly was also involved in Orchesis this year — performing in the March shows — and is part of the Dance III physical education class.
So although Libertyville High School may not see Herrmann next year, those who know her — and those who do not as well — may see her name in lights in a few years.
