Abigail O’Brien, 8, dreams of being a ballerina, but for Christina Schifano, a young dancer with the Colorado Ballet’s Studio Company, that dream is a lot closer — though she isn’t there yet.
On Sunday, Abigail and Schifano crossed paths at the Children’s Museum, where the Colorado Ballet performed a quick bit of “Beauty and the Beast,” “Cinderella” and “Don Quixote.”
It was part of the Colorado Ballet’s education and outreach program, which serves 60,000 students, parents and educators, said Anne O’Connor, the program’s director.
And so on Sunday, more than 200 children packed the museum, in two performances, to see Beauty dance with the Beast and Cinderella dance with a broom.
Abigail left the performance, bouncing, ready for the costume try-on. “I’m in a ballet class,” she said. “I go on Saturdays.”
For Schifano, who has been dancing for 18 years, ballet class is every day.
“Our day starts at 10:15,” she told a group of would-be dancers. “We have six-hour rehearsals five to six days a week.”
Among the other things Schifano and her fellow dancers told the children: A dancer must drink a lot of water and get used to calluses and the pinch of toe shoes.
“I don’t know if I am going to be a dancer,” Abigail said. But she’ll keep practicing.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1638 or yrobles@denverpost.com
