LUDINGTON — Isabella Hodges is a Highpoint Virtual Academy of Michigan student and rising ballet talent training with the prestigious Grand Rapids Ballet Company while balancing her virtual schooling determined to make it to some of the world’s largest stages.
Hodges, 16, has been undertaking a schedule as demanding as it is inspiring— with rehearsals six days a week, often running late into the evening, HVAM allows her to excel in both academics and ballet.
The oldest of five siblings, Hodges has been a dancer since she was five years old and is aiming to turn her passion into a career.
“I always really loved dance,” Hodges said. “It wasn’t until about freshman year during my injury that I felt I needed to get back to dance. I really love ballet, I think I can make a career out of this and that would be my goal in life. There’s always been a thought at the back of my mind for forever about dance and how much I love it, but I started pursuing it my sophomore year of high school.”
According to Brittanica, ballet traces its origins to the Italian Renaissance, when it was developed as a court entertainment. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the dance technique became formalized.
Hodges said the aspect of ballet she fell in love with was a dancer’s ability to tell a story through movement.
“I really love the art of storytelling that’s in ballet and how structured ballet is in general,” Hodges said. “You can go see the same performance in a million different places, and the storyline is going to be so similar, and even the steps are going to be similar. If there’s one step in one show, then it’s going to be the same in the other one. I love the structure and how you can build on that structure into a different art form.”
Getting the basics of positioning and movement down early on was among the big challenges in honing her skills, according to Hodges.
Watching and studying dancers like Tyler Peck has inspired aspects of her own dance approach.
There are five basic positions in modern-day classical ballet, known as the first through fifth positions.
“When I was younger, I would say the challenges were just like focusing on how to turn out,” Hodges said. “I always was corrected for different body positioning and so focusing in on that was definitely tricky at a young age, but now being older, it’s a lot easier to understand. It’s something that you have to grow into for sure. You learn how your body works, and I just love being so in touch with my own body now, and knowing how to fix whatever mistakes I might make.”
A major step in pursuing a professional career for Hodges was working with the Grand Rapids Ballet, where she connected with other young women with dreams of a career in the discipline.
The Grand Rapids Ballet is Michigan’s only professional classical ballet company. Under the artistic leadership of James Sofranko since 2018, the company consists of 20 professional dancers and an additional apprentice and trainee program.
“Being so close to the company has been really eye-opening,” Hodges said. “I see dancers almost every day working on shows and rehearsing, and I just look in the studio, and I think, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ I think being at Grand Rapids and having the opportunities that have been presented through them, I can see in the near future me doing that as well. I think the ballet industry is so tight-knit that you go somewhere and you immediately click, everyone is family.
“I was really nervous about going to Grand Rapids and meeting new people, and I was nervous that I was older and that they’ve all been together for so long. But the second I was there, I felt so welcome and I have been making amazing friendships there that will last forever. I think a lot of people can agree with me on that. My friends that I’ve made, and just being in the industry in general, I think everyone grows close with each other super quick.”
Hodges said one of her favorite performances on stage includes the junior company performance of The Toy Maker.
“That was just a really fun first role,” Hodges said. “It was very much like more of a storytelling aspect. And I thought that was a great way to begin my career with Grand Rapids Ballet Company. I really think that was my favorite role so far, it was a really fun role and a great experience being part of a premiering show.”
Balancing school and ballet practice is a constant for Hodges, who regularly spends time outside of the studio catching up on her studies.
Being able to be virtual for schooling has allowed for more time to practice for the stage, Hodges said.
“All my teachers are super supportive of what I’m doing,” Hodges said. “Being virtual makes it easy to work at my own pace. It’s very focused personally, and I really enjoy being able to work in the morning on whatever I need to work on or even work ahead for looking forward to my performing schedules. I can stay on top of all my grades while performing at night in these shows.
“It’s definitely hard sometimes, it gets tricky,” she said. “It has its days. Looking forward to what I want to do, like keeping my eye on that prize of a professional career makes me want to work as hard as I can to achieve these goals. My social life definitely is around dance mostly, but I think it’s thriving in that family of dance. My schoolwork is also really keeping me focused on how to continue being a high school student and dance.”
According to Hodges, things that help her daily in balancing school and dance include setting goals, writing everything out and being as organized as possible.
“I love using my planner for writing rehearsal times down and then figuring out what school times will involve,” she said. “I think just overall, my advice is to have that goal, work towards it and focus on that goal. Find what you want to end up doing, and I think everything will work out if you work hard enough.”
Moving forward, Hodges’ goals are to finish schooling and obtain her degree so she can focus her energy on dance and improving her skills.
She said she dreams of making it to major stages in California or New York City.
“My goals for dance are to make it into a company through auditions and end up a principal dancer somewhere,” Hodges said. “There’s so many in California, whether it’s San Francisco Ballet, I think that would be an amazing place to be. Or even somewhere in New York, both sides of the country have amazing opportunities, and I could see myself in either place. I haven’t even narrowed it down yet.
“I want people to know how hard-working I am and how much I care about the details of things,” she said. “Whether it’s dance, family, friends or being out, I enjoy giving back. I want to do more volunteer work, all these different things to work to give back and make a difference.”