Principal Ballerina


Clara Cravey and Zane Wilson in SEBASTIAN. Premiered at the New Harkness Theatre in New York. Photo: Bil Leidersdorf.



"Dancing begins within, a spark. Our goal is to nurture that spark into a flame. The careful training of young dancers results in a balance of technique and the pure joy of dance. We are committed to the development of the artistic individual and instilling the discipline required of a classical ballet dancer."

-----Clara Cravey


LE CORSAIRE, 1973. Clara Cravey and Christopher Aponte, Pas De Deux



Interview with Clara Cravey
Principal of the Houston Ballet Academy

by Theresa Hyde
TheresaHyd@aol.com
December, 1998

A native of West Palm Beach, Ms. Cravey began her professional career with the Harkness Youth Dancers in 1968 under the direction of Ben Stevenson. She danced throughout the United States, Europe, South America, and the Middle East as a principal dancer with the Harkness Ballet Company and Ballet International de Caracas.

In 1978, Ben Stevenson, as director of Houston Ballet Academy, invited Ms. Cravey to join the academy's faculty. He appointed her to assistant principal in 1987 and promoted her to principal in 1991. Thirty-five dancers with Houston Ballet received their professional training from Ms. Cravey. Among her former students are Houston Ballet principal dancers Lauren Anderson, Dawn Scannell, Barbara Bears, and Dominic Walsh. Other former students are dancing with professional dance companies throughout the United States.

In addition to her duties as principal of Houston Ballet Academy, she serves as the vice-president on the National Association of Schools of Dance and she serves on the artistic council of Ballet Florida and the University of Oklahoma.

A grand arrangement of beautiful White Roses was sitting in the middle of Ms. Cravey's office when I walked in for her interview. She mentioned that "her boss likes to do things like that," referring of course, that she received them from Ben Stevenson, the Artistic Director for the Houston Ballet. Several Christmas gifts from the students littered her office desk displaying how much she is appreciated and loved. Ms. Cravey took me on a tour of the Houston Ballet Academy where I viewed students who proudly performed for her. One of the pretty ballet students, her hair neatly tied up in a bun, handed her a gift as we were walking down the halls. It was inspiring to see the hopeful little ballerinas (ranging in age from 5 thru 12) line up for Auditions to be admitted to the Academy.

Ms. Cravey, her husband Kent R. Stanley, and her two stepsons enjoy fishing and boating. She is also an avid gardener.

Clara Cravey and Zane Wilson in NIGHT SONG.



Theresa: Tell us about your past background, your career.....
Clara: I started dancing in a small school when I was 6 years old, in West Palm Beach Florida. Both my sister and I started taking ballet together and we both ended up becoming professional dancers. We joined The Harkness Youth Dancers in 1968, under the direction of Ben Stevenson (Artistic Director of the Houston Ballet).

And that's how I caught up with him, he gave me a job when I was just a little young kid right out of a little small school (laughs). At that point, my sister was also dancing with The Harkness Ballet, so that's how I got to New York and how I got to meet Ben. I danced with The Harkness Ballet under his direction, under Vincente Nebrada's direction, under Rebecca Harkness' direction until the demise of the company in 1975, and at which point I danced these various roles. I also did a lot of guesting so I could also complete my dance career as far as doing some of the more classical ballets like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and The NutCracker. So I had a really varied career because I had the best of both worlds, I could have the Classics, but back in those days, the companies were either very classical or sort of contemporary. I wanted the best of both. So I would do some classical and then, I would do some of the more cutting edge ballets of the '60s and '70s with Harkness.

And then in 1975, I moved to South America under the invitation of Vincente Nebrada who was starting Ballet International de Caracas. He was forming a new company down there and invited me to come down to be one of the Ballerinas. I was there for three years, and I helped him develop this company. At which point I had a very severe injury that resulted from Ballet which sidelined me, severely. Of course, today, if I had this injury, I probably could have danced longer because medicine is so much better for dancers, there's a lot more concern and care for that. Where back in those days, you just danced on something, and of course I was stupid enough to do that and ended the career.

NIGHT SONG, Clara Cravey and Zane Wilson.



However, at that point, I was 31 years old so I had been dancing for a long time. I was really kind of ready to move on, anyway. I mean from age 16 to 31 is a long span to be a professional dancer. And I always loved to teach, I always have an interest in teaching and so I stopped dancing, and moved back to the States and started to teach. Again, I ran into Ben Stevenson by accident and he had just formed the Houston Ballet.
And he says, "What are you doing?", and I said, "Nothing."
He said, "Do you want to come out and Dance?" and I said, "No, I really think that I'm over that." And he said, "What do you want to do?"
I said, "Well, let me teach in your Academy and see if I'm any good, maybe I'm not any good, maybe I don't have a gift for being a teacher.
So he says, "Just come on out, I'll give you a job, I want you to be with me." And that was 21 years ago. (laughs) And here we are!
Theresa: Why did you choose Ballet as a career?
Clara: I don't know if you actually choose it. I think there's a little destiny in Ballet. You have to have the Talent, which is God-given. But you also have to have the desire to work hard and to be self-disciplined. That is something that, I think, just comes from within a child or within one's self. When I was a little girl, I always liked to perform, I really enjoyed performing even if it was just a little variation at my Ballet school. I enjoyed putting the little costume and performing. I really thought that was neat.

I was also pretty versed in Tap and Jazz, which was very popular during the '50s. So I was really interested in all forms of dance as a child and I enjoyed the performing part. But I think there is a little bit of a Destiny to it. Now as a teacher, I can see that with my own students. God does annoint certain people to be Ballet dancers. He just does. Not that someone that doesn't have a very good body can't work hard and become a dancer, but there's always those little special people that become stars or better than just a dancer.

Theresa: I believe you have to have the Desire and the Discipline to really become the Ballet dancer.....
Clara: Exactly. I've seen students that have Talent that don't have the Desire and you want to just hit them in the head (smiles). "Look at the beautiful body that God gave you, look at this beautiful talent, and you don't do anything with it." And I've got several kids like that. It's sad but.....usually in the end, they go out and they do become dancers because today, it's so much more competitive than it was in my day. Today, I look at my school of 400 and maybe, Mr. Stevenson will take 6 or 8 of them at the end of this year, and maybe 4 or 5 will get a job somewhere else. The room at the top is very small.

Theresa: Just like everything else in life. What is your role as the Principal of the Houston Ballet Academy?
Clara: My main role is running the school, the everyday activities. A lot of scheduling, forming the curriculum. But I'm also.....it's pretty rare in our business that the Principal is also a Faculty member, so I'm a dual person. I do this because I love to teach, and I do it also because I think it's very important not to sit in an office but to be in there with the students and seeing who's coming along and developing in the school. That's one of the reasons why I've been here so long is that I've actually seen students who were little ballerinas and now are Principal Dancers in the Company. I've been here long enough to see the little ones grow up and that's always exciting to me. But that's basically what I do. I do run the everyday business and then, I teach as well. I teach a lot, I teach from about Level 5 up through 8. And I have a wonderful faculty that takes care of all the rest.


SEBASTIAN, Clara Cravey and Zane Wilson.

Theresa: Do you consider yourself a strict disciplinarian?
Clara: You know, not really. I think that kids today are changing a great deal. They don't really respond like we used to, you know, to the rod. They respond a little more to positive reinforcement, sometimes a little bit of humor, which helps. I think kids get so serious in this business and I feel I, sort of, have a little bit of a softness there. I am disciplined. You don't see any talking in class, you don't see any misbehaving because the kids that come to this school, they're coming here to be Ballet Dancers. They're not coming here to play. And ones that do play, they eventually go.

In the lower levels, we're very strict with the students. I mean, not to the point of abuse. But very strict, they know they can't talk, they have to wear their hair a certain way. They're classes are very very defined and uniformed. When they get up into the higher levels, we try to develop they're artistic ability. We try to get them more imagination, develop their artistic side, and that's where I come in. I try to not see this piece of dancer, but you try to develop the whole dancer. What are they thinking, how are they developing as an artist? Are they gonna be able to go out and portray Manon, Sleeping Beauty and Contemporary Ballet? Are they gonna be able to have that blend?

The other thing that's really important today is that students have a well rounded career. Ballet's the base. But they need to have modern dance, they need to have character dance, they need to have jazz. We don't do tap because of our floors, unfortunately, but I wish we did (laughs). Dancers today have to be extremely well rounded because they have to be able to do a Sleeping Beauty and then the next night, go out and do a Contemporary Series. So you have to look at the whole training of the student, not just ballet class, but the other disciplines as well. I'm a really firm believer in that.

Theresa: Do the parents get really involved in their children's progress?
Clara: Parents, especially in this school, they really just drop them off. We find it's better not to have a great deal of parental involvement. It's more for the student's well being than anything else. I know schools that let the parents get too involved, and I think, sometimes it can be a little damaging. We allow the parents to come twice a year to observe classes. We also do demonstration classes during the year, so we don't exclude them completely. But I feel that when they're in that room, they need to have total focus without Mommy standing out there. I think sometimes, it can cause a lot of problems down the road. And most ballet schools really don't.

Unlike gymnastics, I think in gymnastics, the parents get really involved and they sit there and watch. Ballet is one of those things that's very carefully planned out and it's not like you get an A on the test, you're gonna pass. It's very nebulous how students progress. Some years, they're slow, some semesters they go really fast and then, they level off. So it's not like you can put a grade to this.

Some Moms that formerly took Ballet, and now have their daughters in the classes are very respectful of The Houston Ballet Academy. They know we produce dancers. A good 80 to 90 percent of the Company comes from this school. And I think outside of the school of the American Ballet in New York, we're the only other ones that can actually say, we produce kids and put them in the Company.

Teaching at The Houston Ballet Academy


Theresa: What qualities do you look for in an aspiring student?
Clara: A lot of it is physique and ability. When they're young, it really isn't that important because you don't know how they're gonna turn out. To be honest with you, a little kid of 6 or 7, they could be a little pudgy, kinda funny looking little kid and become this beautiful swan when they're 18. So, really, in a way you gather a bunch of fish at the bottom of the pond. And then you start bringing them up. But in a way, you don't know the ones that are gonna have the self-discipline and the desire and the physique that are going to come up through the levels.

Like today, we're going to look for a certain amount of training, because we're mid-year so they have to be able to slot into what we've already got. So, we're looking for a certain level of training, a certain level of ability, and also, just someone who strikes you. Some little kids are just great little performers, and maybe their bodies aren't perfect, but they have a great spirit so, we sort of look for those 3 things. Now in the older level, we have to look for a certain standard. They have to be able to come in and fit in to our level, or fit in one below giving them the possibility of moving up the next year. So, that's a little harder jump, level 5, 6, 7 and 8. That's a much bigger jump.

Theresa: When you're looking for someone to be a professional Ballerina, what qualities do you look for?
Clara: Talent, Ability, Physique, Artistry. I think I'd put Artistry first, and then somewhere in there you've got to have a good enough body, you have to have desire and discipline and a technical ability, a technical standard. The students that I have in the top level, which is level 8, I have 33 students, a very large class this year, they are pretty much hand picked. Whether they come up through our school or come in for the summer, and ask them to stay (we have a big summer course that we invite students from all over the country to come to).

Those are the kids that are wanting to get into the Company, and those are the kids that we're, kind of, putting the frosting on the cake, so to speak. They know how to dance, but we're just putting the frosting on and getting them ready for professional careers. A lot of them, sometimes with the boys, sometimes it's teaching them musicality and discipline and thinking of lines and shapes and cleaning up their technique a little bit, but most of those kids have already gotten to a certain level of technical ability.

CANTO INDIO, Clara Cravey and Christopher Aponte. Pas De Deux, "A Dance for Two"


Theresa: What advice do you give to parents to encourage their children into this great Art Form?
Clara: Advice to parents is to be there, drop them off, support them, and we hope the best for them. Because really, the parents, no matter how much they try, that child is the one that's going in there and doing it. For example, I have a niece that dances in this company. I remember that when she was a little girl, her mother and I, who both dance professionally, (we're a dancing family), we did everything to encourage her not to dance. We gave her horseback riding lessons. We kept her away from the Ballet Studio. And one day, she was about, maybe 9 or 10 and she was in tears, and came to us, "Why can't I dance? I want to do this!" We said, "Go ahead." And here she is, a soloist in the company.


Julie Gumbinner

Julie Gumbinner is a native Houstonian, whose mother, Claudia Cravey is Clara Cravey's sister. Claudia Cravey is now the ballet mistress for Ballet Florida. Ms. Gumbinner was trained at Ballet Florida under Marie Hale. She spent a year in the Houston Ballet Academy and was asked to join the company as an apprentice in 1991. In 1998, she was promoted to Soloist. Ms. Gumbinner has danced many well known classical roles in several ballets by Ben Stevenson including the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Winter Fairy in Cinderella, and the pas de trois and big swans in Swan Lake. Last season, Ms. Gumbinner was selected to dance the title role in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Manon. Her contemporary repertoire includes George Balanchine's Agon, and Dominic Walsh's Flames of Eros.



Clara: Even people or parents who have danced before, I say, let me have your child, let me groom them, and we'll see. You know, the competition is very stiff. And she may have a beautiful physique, but not very exciting artistically. Or she may be wonderfully artistic, but not have a really good body. So, it just depends. She might dance here or somewhere, or she may not. Sometimes, by the end product, I wish the parents would just trust in their Ballet teachers and try to get them in a good school. There are a lot of good schools in this country now, when years ago, there were not. You went to New York, that was it, then, San Francisco. So the best thing to do, is get them in a good school, and then discover how hard they want to work. My advice to parents is, give me your child, and we'll see. There are no guarantees, but we'll do the best we can.


CANTO INDIO


Theresa: Growing up as a child in West Palm Beach, Florida, did you decide to go to New York and perform?
Clara: Yes, my teacher encouraged me. My sister, of course, was dancing up there. And that made my parents feel a little better about a 16 year old daughter going to New York. I graduated early from High School, which I encourage a lot of students to do. I don't say to quit school, but try to double up and get out as fast as you can. Because the career is so short and the body only lasts so long as a dancer. Those late teens, early twenties is when you're the strongest, basically. When it gets late, the injuries do crop, as much as we hate to say that, but they do. But it's like with any athlete, you can't be totally injury free. You're lucky if you are.

Theresa: What's the hardest part about being a Professional Ballerina?
Clara: I think if you love it, there is no hard part. Perhaps the hardest part sometimes is dealing your body rebelling. I think women have to watch their weight a great deal, which is difficult for some people, easy for others. The technical standard of male dancers has come up in the last 20, 30 years, tremendously. The male dancer has a great deal of demanding steps that are difficult on the body.

But if you love doing it, there's nothing really that's difficult in it. Once you get onstage, and you hear the music, it's very magical. There are problems that happen, you know, you slip. When you're out there, things happen, I mean you have to expect that. But you should let the magic take over and not be thinking about all the technical aspects of it. That should be done during the rehearsals.

Theresa: Where do you find the discipline to become the Ballerina?
Clara: You know, people ask me that and I say, I don't know. You can't buy that, can you? I think it's an inner thing, just like someone learning to play the piano, or a violin or writing. The discipline to sit down and write. The discipline to do anything, you have to dig within yourself. That's why I think it's important for kids to do get into something besides just what they have in academics because they develop the interest and discipline within themselves. Whether it's athletics or dance, or gymnastics or music, or whatever it is, something that gives them that discipline. Because I don't think a lot of them are getting it at school so much anymore, and maybe not as much at home, 'cause parents are very busy today. Even if they don't become a dancer, it gives them something, that knowledge and discipline.

Clara Cravey rehearsing for the Opening of The New Harkness Theatre in the early '70s. Rebecca Harkness, a famous philanthropist built this New Theatre in New York.


Theresa: Where, in Europe did you travel to perform?
Clara: Oooh, you name it, I've probably been there (laughs). I think, back in the'60s and '70s, a lot of American Ballet Companies were travelling in Europe. And they can't do it as much today, because it's so expensive. What happened with Ballet is, you're Houston Ballet and you perform in Houston, and you maybe perform in Kennedy Center, and tour. Or you're San Francisco Ballet and you have your season in San Francisco. And New York City Ballet performs in New York. ABT does more touring than most of the Companies, but they don't do these big tours. Sometimes, they do, I think a couple of companies are going to Europe this year, but it's very expensive to take these big productions somewhere.

(In 1978, Mr. Stevenson travelled to China on behalf of the U.S. government. At the invitation of the Chinese Government, he has returned almost every year since to teach at the Beijing Dance Academy.)


Clara: But during the '60s and '70s, we did a lot of travelling, Joffrey Ballet, Harkness Ballet, ABT, all those companies in New York travelled a great deal across the seas. And we would do festivals in the summer a lot, the most famous one is in Italy. They have a huge Dance Festival, it's one of the biggest ones. Spain, Italy, we did a tour of the Middle East. My fondest memories is in Lebanon, outside of Beirut, it's a place called Baalbeck. It was an excavated ruins from the Phoenician and Roman times. They would build a theatre floor, that would come out from the Temple. Many companies performed there, it was one of the circuit, so to speak. It was very exciting.

The other place that was really neat was in Athens, at the Harrod Atticus Theatre. Before every performance, it was an old Roman Ampitheatre that they excavated, and they would light the Parthenon above your head. It's just the idea of.......Socrates, you know, I mean, (laughs) who wouldn't want to dance there? And we would do a lot of tours, we did Paris, London, Germany, Stutgard, a lot of the major cities.


Clara Cravey


"When I was a student in Houston Ballet Academy, Clara Cravey was one of my favorite ballet teachers. She's been a great inspiration to me, not just as a ballet instructor but as a teacher overall. She and Houston Ballet Academy prepared me for that next big step, Houston Ballet!"
-----Lauren Anderson