Petite Conservatory Dancer Eric Poor on his NYCDA Experience

We are very proud of Petite Conservatory Dancer Eric Poor, age 11, who is on tour this year with NYCDA as their Outstanding Mini Male Dancer. Eric received this title at the 2020 National competition, competing his contemporary solo 'Voice" by Artistic Director Lorraine Spiegler in the midst of the pandemic. In this role, Eric has been invited to most of this season's competitions, where he learns choreography and serves as a teacher's assistant during convention weekends. The NYCDA conventions are held in cities around the country, and Eric has had the opportunity to travel to Mobile, Alabama and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and will attend and support additonal conventions in more cities on the east coast by the end of the season. Eric will travel to Nationals again this summe, where he will take and assist the workshop classes, perform in the opening group dance and present a solo in the closing Gala.

Hear from Eric about his experience so far:

"It is an amazing opportunity to be the NYCDA Outstanding Mini Male Dancer for 2020-2021! I have had to learn choreography quickly and adapt to each faculty's style. I really enjoy being able to perform all styles of dance each weekend, including ballet, jazz, tap, commercial hip hop, lyrical and contemporary. I love getting to demonstrate and help other dancers as part of my role. NYCDA offers a lot of real world opportunities, particularly at the National level.

"NYCDA Nationals is a very special experience. I received one of my summer scholarships at Nationals. They usually have  professional ballet and jazz auditions too, including for Broadway shows like CATS and Radio City Music Hall's "Christmas Spectacular". The NYCDA experience complements the strong training in ballet and contemporary that I get at CityDance. NYCDA empasizes ballet as an important part of dance training, no matter which career path you take in dance. I defintely recommend the NYCDA experience to other dancers."

Stay tuned over the coming weeks as we check in with more of our students about their experiences training and attending competitions in the COVID era!