WASHINGTON – Stephanie Crockett was too young to apply to the Dance Theatre of Harlem, but when she first saw them perform she knew she was destined for the troupe.
“She said, ‘Momma, I can see myself on this stage,'” Debbie Crockett remembers. “The next year, when she was old enough, she auditioned and made it.”
Considering that Stephanie got her start in dance at age 3, her eagerness and determination came as no surprise to her family. Even now, 11-year-old Stephanie is the youngest in her class at Dance Theatre of Harlem, which offers classes through the Kennedy Center in Washington.
“I want to show kids that if they like to do something, they should try and do what they are best at,” Stephanie explained.
Because of her work in the dance troupe, Stephanie has been selected as one of the performers to dance Monday before President Bush and first lady Laura Bush at the White House.
The performance is part of a ceremony celebrating Arthur Mitchell, the founder and artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem, and his contribution to the dance world.
Stephanie knew she was going to be selected for the recital but only recently learned it was going to be held at the White House. When she found out, she said, “I was just screaming and bouncing off the walls.”
The shock still hasn’t completely worn off.
“Sometimes I get nervous when people say congratulations. Sometimes I am really calm but other times I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh,'” she said.
While the guest list might seem intimidating for most middle-school students, her family does not expect the Sudbrook Magnet Middle School student to be too nervous.
In fact, this is not the first time Stephanie has performed in front of a famous crowd. She danced in another Dance Theatre of Harlem show that was attended by choreographer Debbie Allen, renowned for her work in the musical “Fame.”
Far from being star-struck, Stephanie chatted easily with Allen after the performance and even called her mother so she could have a chance to talk to the famous choreographer, too.
But Debbie Crockett does not expect her daughter to put the president on the phone. She has already warned her daughter to be on her best behavior for the White House performance. Like the president, Debbie Crockett is a Texan and wants to make sure that her daughter leaves a good impression.
Her father, Steven Crockett, is less worried, saying that Stephanie’s maturity and grace must have factored into selecting her for this honor.
“It isn’t just the dancing. It’s how you carry yourself on and off the stage and through life,” said her father. “She is determined to excel in everything that she does. She is determined to learn something and get great at it.”
From a young age, Stephanie showed a dedication to dance, he said. When she was only 3, she joined a liturgical dance group at New Palmist Baptist Church in Baltimore.
Initially, the instructor was concerned Stephanie was too young to participate in the group and worried she would not be able to keep up, her father said. By the next practice session, Stephanie had convinced the teacher she could handle it: She had memorized all of the moves from the previous class.
Now, said her dad, “They use her as the memory bank for each dance routine.”
In addition to weekly practices at Dance Theatre of Harlem, she takes dance classes at her middle school and has been featured in productions of the Baltimore County Youth Ballet’s “The Nutcracker.”
Because Crockett has performed with so many different groups, she has danced on a variety of stages: at her church, her school, the Kennedy Center and the 1st Mariner Arena. But she has no idea what to expect from the performance space at the White House.
She ventured a guess though, “I just imagine it being so beautiful, like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
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