MHS Student Spotlight: Julia Guiheen

Julia Guiheen, a senior at Madison High School, exemplifies beauty and grace through her special talent: dance. In 7^th grade, Julia decided to start dancing because she didn’t really enjoy sports and she wanted to be active. She was inspired by the New York City Ballet (NYCB) Nutcracker to begin ballet classes at Studio Allegro in Madison, NJ. She started in a class with younger girls and five and a half years later she is dancing circles around the studio. Her biggest strength is her pointe work, which the majority of people couldn’t even begin to attempt. She loves to perform “balancé’s”, a waltz step where the dancer steps side to side in a flowing motion and “pique arabesques,” which steps onto the toe with the leg extended to the back, an iconic ballet position.

Ballet, similar to a lot of the arts, is hard to succeed at, but Julia’s doing just that. Over the summer, she was accepted to the American Ballet Theater summer intensive program in California, and was more recently accepted to the Butler University dance major program. She has also auditioned at Indiana and Fordham Lincoln Center with the hopes of continuing her dance career, which she says is “the most important thing.”

Over Christmas break, Julia performed in the Nutcracker as the Sugar Plum Fairy, a reputable solo given to only the best dancers at the studio. Dance is a huge commitment, but even more so for a serious ballerina like Julia. Currently, Julia takes 20 hours of class at Studio Allegro per week and does conditioning and cross training at the gym once a week. Ballet is not only a time commitment but also a physical commitment that comes with a lot of risks. Julia has succeeded so far, and hopes to join a company one day, however she recognizes the risks and plans to double major wherever she decide to attend college.