This 11-year-old girl will make you feel like a big slacker

Even during the Nutcracker run, you’re going to school every day. What’s that like? After a 6pm performance, I get home at like 9, I do a bit of homework, and usually go to sleep. If I don’t finish my homework I just go to sleep and wake up early in the morning and finish it. It’s not too hard.

What about the days when you’re not performing? I have dance classes six days a week. An hour-and-a-half every day, and two hours on Wednesday. But it’s not too much or anything. When I get home, I just, like start playing the piano.

What school subjects do you like? Oh, I love to read! When my teacher gives us a half hour of free reading time, I’m just so happy. And I love math. We’re doing fractions right now.

What sort of projects are some of your classmates at Professional Performing Arts School doing? A lot of them do commercials and modeling. And a lot of my friends are on Broadway. One of my friends is in Ragtime, and in the 7th grade someone’s in The Lion King.

Are you a fan of Hannah Montana? I don’t usually have time to watch TV and I don’t really look up to singers, actually. I look up to dancers that are in the company, like the Sugarplums and the Dewdrops.

So, no Jonas Brothers? [Makes a face.] We share lockers at school and I share with a girl who does like the Jonas brothers, so you see half of our locked filled with pictures of stuff like the Jonas brothers, and the other half with like, ballerinas and a picture of Julie Andrews in the corner. I love Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews.

What about like, the Twilight movies? My friends at school are so into it, they make Twilight signs, and I’m like, “What are you doing?”

Where does this dancing talent come from? Are there other dancers in your family? No. My aunt is a doctor and my uncle is a dentist, and the other half of my family is dentists.

Photos by Paul Kolnik (Production), W Magazine (Portrait)