Alumni News /

CLAIRE BERGMAN, CARROLL HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2011: DAYTON BALLET PROFESSIONAL DANCER

^{Posted November 27, 2018}

Claire Bergman was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. She is a graduate of Ascension School (Kettering, 2007) and Carroll High School (Riverside, 2011).

Claire has been dancing since the age of three. She began training with Barbara Pontecorvo at Pontecorvo Ballet Studios at age ten. There, she had the chance to grow her technique and artistry. Claire states, “I owe a lot of my success to Barbara Pontecorvo and the opportunities that I received while dancing there.” Claire became a member of their pre-professional company, Gem City Ballet, in 2007. She studied with Point Park Conservatory and Ballet Austin summer intensives. While dancing with Gem City Ballet, she appeared in ballets such as Serenade, Who Cares, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake.

Never give up your passion and choose to do what makes you happy! Life is not about having tons of money but having love and happiness.

When looking back to her childhood days, Claire says that she definitely did not think that she would be where she is today. She explains, “When I was younger I enjoyed dancing but I never liked to go to my ballet class. I always wanted to just go to my jazz or modern classes but had to go to ballet. My sister became a professional dancer right after high school and that really influenced me to start taking ballet more seriously. She is eight years older than me and I am always looking up to her. The more I did ballet, the more I fell in love with it, and it became my passion to become a professional dancer.”

Claire’s professional debut was in February of 2009, dancing and singing for Dayton Opera’s The Merry Widow. She also performed the opera Faust with the Dayton Opera. In 2010, Claire was the guest artist with East Alabama Community Ballet’s The Nutcracker, dancing the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

In high school, Claire’s parents encouraged her to go to college so she applied to a few dance colleges. She attended Butler University for three semesters and then transferred to University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, graduating with her BFA in Ballet in 2015. She transferred to CCM for a couple of reasons. She really loved her time at Butler and the training she received there but it was too expensive for her family at the time. UC was also closer to home, which is where she wanted to be.

At the University of Cincinnati, Claire had the opportunity to dance in China with the Beijing Dance Academy and performed roles in Serenade, Giselle, and other contemporary works. She also performed in Dayton Ballet’s The Nutcracker which later led to a position with the company.

Claire returns to Dayton Ballet for her fourth season this year. Since joining Dayton Ballet, she has enjoyed performing Jiří Kylián's Sechs Tänze, Ron Cunningham's The Great Gatsby, and Stephen Mills' Quartet from Five Flights Up. Her favorite ballet to perform is Swan Lake because of the music and the love story. Her most difficult role to perform (and her proudest to achieve) was in Dracula: Bloodlines this fall (2018). She was the character Lilith who created Dracula. Claire had to become this evil creature and make the audience believe the story; it was her first leading role she had since joining Dayton Ballet.

Claire’s time at Dayton Ballet consists of a five-day week or a six-day week, nine to four thirty. That consists of a ballet technique class and then rehearsal in the morning with a forty five-minute lunch and then rehearsal in the afternoon. The rehearsals are usually what their next performance will be.

“It is very unique being a professional dancer. I never thought that I could get paid for doing what I love everyday so it is really a dream come true,” Claire says. “I love to dance because it is my passion. I love how it challenges me to be better and push myself. I also enjoy the freedom that I have to express myself in dance.”

When Claire thinks of the future, she dreams of becoming a choreographer for ballet companies. She appreciates the fact that she still lives in Dayton and that she still has all of the friendships and connections she made through Carroll High School. She thinks it is amazing to work in the same town that she grew up in!

Claire states, “The best advice I can give, as corny as it sounds, is to never give up. When I first went to Butler, I became very sick and had to spend time in the hospital. I was very weak and I did not want to dance anymore. I even switched my major that semester. I took a year off of ballet in a very critical time in my dance technique. I realized that I was not happy and knew that I needed to dance. I had to get back into shape but I knew it would be very hard. I kept pushing myself and now I am dancing professionally. Never give up your passion and choose to do what makes you happy! Life is not about having tons of money but having love and happiness.”