Barrington Trained Ballerinas Win Scholarship

When she’s asked why it is that she loves ballet, the eloquence of dancer Brittany Bonefas’ answer drives home the point that hers is a singular talent.

Conceding that she has dabbled in sports, such as soccer, she said she much prefers the dance.

“Ballet uses a higher grade of movement that involves artistry,” said the 15-year-old Lake Zurich High School sophomore. “I fell in love with it.”

Bonefas is a winner of a Patricia Whitmore scholarship, a scholarship established by the late Whitmore, a costume designer for the Barrington Dance Academy. The scholarship will send her to Austin, Texas for three weeks in June and July to participate in a workshop with a professional company, Ballet Austin.

Other Whitmore scholarship winners this year include Joyce Gaffney and Hannah Ray, who both attend Barrington High School and will be attending other camps.

All three dancers will be featured in “Graduation Ball,” a one-act ballet that Barrington Youth Dance Ensemble will perform June 17  and 18 at Barrington High School.

The scholarships are presented by the Barrington Youth Dance Ensemble, a student dance company, to students who study at the Barrington Dance Academy, the ensemble’s home.

Academy director and owner Mary Brennan is one of the teachers who has mentored Bonefas over the past several years.

“She’s really a brilliant young student,” Brennan said of Bonefas. “She’s a very talented mover, very creative, which is a delight to see because it’s rare. She combines the technical aspects of ballet with genuine, earnest communication with her audience.”

Bonefas said she got started with dance very early.

“I’ve been dancing since I was 3. I’ve been dancing with the Barrington Dance Academy since I was 7,” she said. Before that, she said, she took lessons at the Denise Sabala studio on Route 22 in Lake Zurich.

She initially experimented with different dance forms, but quickly found her place in ballet.

“Ballet is so athletic,” she said.

She said she found it awe-inspiring not only to learn ballet, herself, but to watch fellow dancers move with grace and emotion.

“I just remember watching ‘The Nutcracker,’ " she said, adding that she also saw the Joffrey Ballet perform “Romeo and Juliet.” More recently, she said, she took in a performance by River North Dance Chicago, a contemporary dance company, at the Auditorium Theatre.

 When she gets to Austin, she said, her already rigorous rehearsal schedule will intensify.  She currently dances about two hours per day, four days per week. In Austin, she’ll be dancing from two and a half to four hours per day. Plus, she’ll be attending classes, so she expects to be on her feet for about six hours each day.

She said she’s looking forward to the challenge and to learning more about partnering, dancing choreographed variations of classical ballets and further experimenting with jazz and modern dance.

“I’m so excited to be going,” she said.

The ballet camp in Austin will be her second ballet camp. Last year, she attended a camp in Michigan. But that opportunity was cut short when she suffered a back injury that sidelined her for six weeks.

Bonefas said the camp also presents a personal growth challenge that has nothing to do with ballet.

“This will be the longest time I’ve been away from my family,” she said, adding that she’ll be back in time to celebrate her birthday in July. Her birthday is also her sister Lexi’s birthday and her brother Shaun’s birthday. The triplets share a passion for music – all three are in the Lake Zurich High School marching band.

But only Brittany stayed on point with her fascination with ballet.

In fact, she said, she plans to make ballet part of her career strategy.

“I want to go to college first. I want to major in dance,” she said. “I’ll probably pick something else (to double major in) because I can only dance so long.”