Even before the International Ballet Academy opens next month in Cary, the artistic director is drawing students from far and wide.
Miguel Campaneria, a Cuban-born dancer who trained at the National Ballet School of Cuba and has an impressive résumé of professional appointments, is so respected by his students that they are following him to the areafrom his current school in Hartford, Conn.
Tersee Flores' 14-year-old son, Darion, has improved so much under Campaneria that she is moving to Cary despite an iffy economy.
As a mother who wants the best for her child, she said she has no choice.
"He's gotten so much better under Miguel," Flores said. "We need to follow him for my son's career and what he wants to do in the future."
An impressive résumé
Campaneria is a welcome addition to the area's growing ballet scene, bringing top credentials.
He has served as artistic director for Puerto Rico's national ballet and R.M.T. Academie de Danse in Haiti. He has danced with the Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
He is on the advisory board of the National Endowment for the Arts and was personally congratulated by President Ronald Reagan for his performance at the 1983 International Dance Competition in Bulgaria.
"He's definitely the real deal," said Elizabeth Parker, communications manager at the Carolina Ballet. "It's wonderful for the community to have more big names in dance, and to create more enthusiasm here for dance."
Excitement about Campaneria's arrival has rippled across local ballet circles that have grown rapidly in recent years, Parker said. The Carolina Ballet now draws talent from about 20 schools in the region.
Campaneria says he fell in love with the area in several visits over the past few years.
"I think there's a lot of passion there for dance," he said in a telephone interview from his home in Hartford. "I know I'll have a lot of support from people who really want to go forward and dance."
Campaneria will leave his post as the chairman of the dance department at the University of Hartford. One of two artistic directors, he will teach classes and choose performance pieces for the students at the Cary studio.
The studio's administrative director, Christina Fanney, worked with Campaneria in Haiti 20 years ago and helped woo him to North Carolina after reconnecting by chance in Haiti recently. She says the level of instruction he offers will be ideal for serious students.
"For those who want it, it's going to be very unique in the type of classes for intense training," Fanney said.
Campaneria said his vision is to offer a course of study that students can follow from young ages to the professional level.
"My goal is to pass on all of my knowledge to my students," he said, noting that he will continue to travel widely. "A ballet teacher is like a doctor; you never stop learning."
A ballet teacher - Campaneria, at least - is also sort of like a drill instructor, seeking perfection and precision out of each recruit.
A gentle beginning
Last month, the trim and muscular Campaneria paced down a line of young ballet dancers who filled a tiny dance studio in North Raleigh. It was a free promotional class for The International Ballet Academy, which will soon move to its spacious Cary studio.
Campaneria was direct but admittedly more gentle than normal. He was working with most of the girls for the first time.
He urged them, in bursts of English and French, toward more perfect form.
" Plié. Plié. ... Point, point, point, point, point! ... Concentrate!" Campaneria pleaded. "You must practice," he said between piano songs. "It's not going to happen by a miracle."
Jeen and Dominic Wong of Cary sat in the lobby near several other parents. They watched the advanced class for more than an hour before their 13-year-old daughter, Victoria, got her chance with Campaneria.
"We've really been looking forward to joining his sessions," said Jeen Wong. At the end of class, the girls clapped for Campaneria, then surrounded him with quiet curtsies.
Tersee Flores, meanwhile, got ready for her own move south with Darion. Two of her son's classmates also will make the move to train with Campaneria.
"I think taking him away from Miguel now wouldn't necessarily hold him back," she said. "But it won't move him as far as he can go."
Staff writer Ted Richardson contributed to this report.
