Five Minutes With Keenan Kampa

Keenan Kampa, a dancer with the Boston Ballet who grew up in Oak Hill and trained with the

Kampa will be the first American to join the Mariinsky. It will actually be a return to Russia for the 23-year-old, who in 2010 was the first American to receive the full diploma from the Vaganova Ballet Academy.

Reston Patch spent a few minutes with Kampa as she visited her parents in Virginia recently.

Reston Patch: It is so exciting you are going to Russia. That must be every ballet dancer's dream. Tell me about when you started ballet. Was it like how every little girl starts with a few dance classes?

Keenan Kampa: My mom opened the phone book and picked a dance studio. I was 4. My sisters, one older one younger, and I all did it together. I really loved working with my teacher, Julia Redick. The way she taught ballet, the ways he presented it was so appealing. It kind of like just grabbed you and sucked you in.  For a while, it was social, just an activity. Never thought I would end up actually doing this as my livelihood.

RP: When did you decide that this may be your livelihood?

KK: I think by the time you get to high school, you have to make the decision  whether you are going to sacrifice the normal - like going to prom, dating.  I sacrificed a lot of my time.

I did not sacrifice my whole childhood, though. I stayed with my family and with my ballet school through graduation, I was homeschooled after fourth grade, and because of that I was able to do so many things - play basketball, act in plays - as well as dance.

There certain things though. On a Friday night, you can't go out with your friends; you have to be in the studio, working. Saturday, you have to spend the entire day at ballet. I did not mind it. It was something I really wanted to do. I made the decision 'I think I can do this,' but let me make sure I do everything I can so I don't have any regrets.

RP: How was it when you first went to Russia at age 18? 
KK: Now THAT was a sacrifice, because I missed so much with my friends and my family here. The first year, there was no Internet. I could go to an Internet cafe on Sundays. By second year, Wi-fi started to show itself.  Third year, Internet was a lot better, and I was able to Skype a lot.

RP: Did you ever second guess your decision to go so far away?
KK:That first year was really hard. Really, really tough. Just everything about it. Not knowing the language. Not having friends. No one to talk to. The program itself is so unbelivably rigorous. You are dancing 11 hours a day. It is draining to every one of your senses and physically and emotionally. 

I was just planning to stay a year. I stayed for three.

RP: What makes Vaganova and Mariinsky different than an American program?
KK: I think it is just how historical it is. It is almost sacred, that school. You walk in there and walk up the steps and realize every single one of my ballet idols has gone through the system and has walked up these steps here.

You know the instructors and the training is unparalleled. They know so much about their art and have so much honesty about their work. That is why it is harder. It's not a sugar-coated approach. There's just a different quality, a different texture.

RP: How did it come to be Mariinsky asked you to come back a year after you left?

KK:  I was invited to dance in a gala. They paid for my Russian partner, Alexi Popov, to come over. I went to dance with him last spring in Russia. We were dancing in a studio and on the last day I was there, the man who had invited me to the school was there. He brought in the artistic director, who offered me a position right then and there. It was really crazy. I was not expecting that. I though that door was completely shut.

RP: To be as successful as you are in the ballet world, would you say in addition to hard work you need luck? A certain body type? 

KK: I think there is a certain physique that makes it easier to dance.  (Kampa is 5-foot-8, 115 lbs). You can see in Russia how picky they are with the bodies. When there are auditions, thousands of kids come in. They scrutinize their hands, their neck, their bodies. The kids with the (right) bodies are able to do the work. they can achieve those lines a lot easier. But at the same time, you look at some of the most famous ballet dancers in the world now don't have the perfect figure. 

I don't know if it is luck. There is so much you have to work for. Not just work, but work intelligently with a purpose. Sometimes students feel so pressured to work with injury. But this is your instrument, you need to listen to everything your body is telling you. When i am in class. If I feel like my foot is uncomfortable, I stop. Because of that, I have never had an injury.

RP: What advice would you give to any little girl who wants to be a ballerina?
KK: I guess to work intelligently. To really try and learn as much as you can about the art.  To really understand it. To have a dancer in mind that you can visualize and try to emulate. To kind of take everything with a grain of salt so you don't become too caught up in ballet and enjoy it!

Ballet more than anything teaches you dedication, perseverance and patience. That will help you overall as a person.

RP: How much did your teacher, Julia Redick, influence you? 
KK:  She was one of the most inspiring people.  She is the most incredible woman in that respect. She taught us so much more than ballet.

RP: So people can find mentors anywhere?

KK: Exactly.