A PNB Soloist on Mentorship and Being a Ballet Life Coach
Cecilia Iliesiu on Tackling Tough Conversations in the Dance World
By Nicole Barrett, DWC Blog Co-Editor
Diving into the tough conversations about mental health and preparing for jobs that are engulfed in the dance world is something that Pacific Northwest Ballet Soloist Cecilia Iliesiu is very passionate about. Having danced professionally for thirteen years, she knows that the ups and downs in a dancer’s career can be very tough. By creating and running the Mentorship Program at PNB School (PNBS), she is tackling those issues head-on and providing pre-professional dancers with career support through Ballet Life Coach. Read on to learn more about Cecilia’s dance journey and the steps she’s taking to create a more open and supportive space for dancers.
Cecilia was born and raised in New York City, New York, and trained at the School of American Ballet from the ages of eight to eighteen. After her training, she landed a company job at the Carolina Ballet. She danced there for six seasons and became a soloist, but after dancing there for years she knew that she wanted to be on another path. Cecilia auditioned internationally and domestically for numerous ballet companies and Pacific Northwest Ballet offered her a job. She has now been dancing with the company for seven seasons and became a soloist in 2020. “I plan on dancing until I stop learning or my body tells me not to,” Cecilia shares.
Outside of dance, Cecilia loves to go swimming, kayaking, do yoga, and make pottery. She bikes to work every day and has many other hobbies that give her a perspective outside of dance. Cecilia also graduated from Fordham University with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Media Studies while dancing full time at Carolina Ballet and PNB.
Cecilia runs PNBS’s Mentorship Program with fellow PNB dancer Amanda Morgan. Starting in March 2020, this program was founded by Morgan and aimed to help with the mental health challenges dancers were facing during the pandemic. This program has evolved to work with dancers in the highest six levels of the PNBS and includes PNB company dancers as the student’s mentors. Cecilia and the mentors work very closely with PNBS consulting therapist Josh Spell to ensure that all the sessions meet the needs of the students. Each level of the Mentorship Program has two sessions per month, one with a company mentor and one with a therapist. The meetings discuss topics like body image, goal setting, work ethic, grappling with self-doubt, and much more. "I can see the students' confidence blossoming in each mentorship chat. The student's vulnerability to talk about their struggles in dance is incredible. The safe space allows them to verbilize, process, and connect with their classmates in a really meaningful way.” Cecilia says about the mentorship program.
During the pandemic in particular, Cecilia noticed a plethora of needs expressed by the pre-professional dancers she worked with in the PNBS Mentorship Program. In particular, dancers needed assistance with company auditions, including help with resumes and cover letters, which led her to give advice and create resources. Helping dancers with a business-side baseline to start their careers was something that motivated her to create Ballet Life Coach, an online resource to help dancers achieve their professional goals and guide them towards a successful career.
Ballet Life Coach currently offers a free 8-Step Audition Checklist with suggested timelines and to-do lists, a resume template, and audition template package that covers the important audition materials. Dancers can also now book one-on-one coaching sessions with Cecilia herself to review and fine-tune audition materials. Click here for more information! In the future, she hopes to see this kind of administrative and holistic support integrated into dance school education
Coming up, Cecilia is offering workshops for year-round schools and summer courses on pre-audition preparations. She was involved in workshops for the summer course at PNB in 2021 and is planning to expand to more schools this summer. One of her big goals is to not only do these workshops for PNB but include other companies in different areas and create more in-depth audition preparation programs.
One of Cecilia’s favorite things about dance is performing. She shares that when the pandemic started, it was very hard for her to switch over from a real audience to a screen. “I just love expressing myself on stage and creating different storylines and characters,” Cecilia shares about performing live. She also shares her love of seeing her coworkers dance along with her and just enjoying the presence of everyone onstage.
When asked about her biggest struggle in the dance world, Cecilia expresses that the mental blocks that dancers face can pose huge challenges. She shares that throughout a dancer’s training process, the physical aspects of learning how to do certain movements often come before the mental challenges that are endured when attempting such things. Cecilia ties this topic back to her work with the Mentorship Program, sharing that she wants to make these conversations about mental health more accessible for dancers. “To me, ballet is physically demanding, but the mental part of it isn’t talked about, and honestly is often the hardest part of dancing,” Cecilia shares.
Cecilia wants dancers that are struggling with similar mental health issues to know that they are not alone, and that they should not be afraid to ask for guidance. She expresses the importance of talking to your peers about any issues. Everyone is going through something, so having these open discussions, and not suppressing your feelings is something that is very important.
Moving forward into the dance world, Cecilia would like to see more normalization of tough conversations within the dance community. She shares that the transitions between what ballet is now versus what it has always been can be very hard for companies and dancers to grasp, so making that transition is something that Cecilia finds very important. “The next generation of dancers need to be the change that they want to see in the ballet world,” she shares.
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