interning w. american ballet theatre

last spring i had the blessing of an opportunity to intern in the special events department of american ballet theatre, my favorite ballet company in the world! my first pair of ballet slippers came in an ABT box; the first ballet that i ever saw was ABT's production of Swan Lake with Michelle Wiles as Odette/Odile & Cory Stearns as the Prince. this company means a lot to me, so being able to wake up every other day to head to 890 Broadway has been like a dream.

everything - from the administration office, to the studios where the company rehearses, to the JKO school - is located at 890 Broadway, an old building that still has man-operated elevators--and so much history! every time i went to the bathroom, i would pass by the piano music and see glimpses of my favorite ballet dancers rehearsing. in the hallways, i saw roberto bolle, misty copeland, hee seo, isabella boylston, and even Natalia Makarova!!! (she's so tiny! but i love her head scarf!)

all that aside, the actual internship experience was so worthwhile. my mentor/boss was/is awesome and she was so patient with me (b/c i made a LOT of mistakes), and i am so grateful that I got to work with her in preparing for the spring gala. as a special events intern, i worked mostly with the database system called Raiser's Edge (I wrote a blog post about it on the ABT intern blog - check it out by clicking here!) My relationship with Raiser's Edge was a shaky, sometimes abusive & frustrating one, haha, but knowing how to work it is essential if you want to work at a non-profit.

In preparing for the spring gala, I helped organize the guest list, seating, bios, invitations...it was actually pretty fun! but of course, May brought the real fun times, even though it was a pretty busy month, especially since I was also juggling final exams. The spring gala was awesome, and I was surprised at how smoothly it went (thanks to the amazing team at ABT!). There were a lot of celebrities, most notably Selena Gomez, whom I've heard was really nice and friendly, although I never got the chance to interact with her, oh well. i had so many precious memories of that night--hopefully if i ever become rich i can buy myself a ticket one day!

May was also the start of ABT's Met opera season, which meant I basically was going back and forth to Lincoln Center! the other interns and I got to meet Charles Barker, one of the conductors, and basically go through the maze that is the backstage of the met opera house! I even got to sit in a box seat! Let me tell you, a box seat is magical and adds some fancy time to the ballet seeing experience. a funny story: some of the interns and i were suppose to sit in one of the boxes after helping out in an event but there were people already sitting in our seats (even though we had the ticket). we went to the usher about it, and it turns out that Kevin McKenzie and company were the ones sitting in our seats! oops! but they were all really nice about it, & let us sit down. it was funny and embarrassing and wow - awesome to sort of meet Kevin McKenzie!

i have to say this experience at ABT has meant a lot to me. 2013 was not a good year for me, but having this experience early this year was truly a blessing and helped me out a lot, more than what can be put on a resume. my co-workers are really the nicest people ever, and i hope they will find success in everything they do. ABT will always have a special place in my heart. not only as a ballet geek, but as a part of this crazy journey that is growing up!