Before 14-year-old Gerald Haynes went to New York to study with the Dance Theatre of Harlem, his mother, Courtney Haynes, instructed her son to write “before” and “after” essays about his experiences.

        May 20, 2001

        The first thing about going to DTH is that this will be my first time studying with the majority of Ballet Dancers being all black. I really don't think that they dance different or anything it's just that I have never seen so many black dancers in one place.

        When I get to Harlem I like to get a lot of great training. The training that they are offering for me is that I will take classical ballet (which I love) but we will also study jazz, tap, and character. I have taken a little bit of tap at SCPA and I know it's a lot of work to learn.

        Now they are going to teach me jazz and character also, I know this will be hard but I'm willing to work very hard because it's important for my dream to become a Ballet dancer. Considering that I want to be a professional dancer. I think his is a critical step in my process to becoming a professional dancer.

        When I get to this dance school I expect to get some of the best training, from some of the best dancers in the world. I know that this is going to be a hard task, because dancing is hard (period) and going to New York is no easy thing. Nevertheless I am ready to face the challenges ahead.

        August 21, 2001

        Harlem was a great experience for me, because I was able to learn a lot of new things that I did not know at first. The classes there were really hard and challenging. I knew to expect to work hard, I just didn't know how hard I would need to work.

        Still with all the hard work it was very fun. I made a lot of new friends while I was in New York. I talked to them every day and we got to know each other really well. We all turned out to be some really good dancers. I feel personally that if someone was looking for a ballet school to go to, they should consider The Dance Theater of Harlem.

        I really missed my family the very week but once I began to meet new people I missed them less and less. I wanted to stay during the end and began to miss my instructors. I really loved Mr. Niaduu's class.

        My teacher from Cincinnati Ballet Ms. Chandra came to see me and I was so happy to see her and to show my other friends that my teacher would really come to visit me.

        The experience in Manhattan was great. I got to ride the train to the real Penn Station and then take the subway to 155th street. Penn Station is on 34th street and D.T.H is on 152nd street. So I had to take the train to 155th street and walk down to 152nd street.

        The advantage of riding the subway as opposed to riding the cab is that the subway gets you there a lot faster. The fastest you can get there is in 15 minutes. That's taking the “A” train. On the “C” train it's 30 minutes.

        I still had a great time while in New York. I would like to go back soon, but next year I would like to go to the San Francisco Ballet Company. All my friends that I meet this year we promised to meet there next summer and we didn't give each other our phone numbers because we will see each other in San Francisco.

        Mom and Dad, I want to thank you for sending me because I know that I am young and you trusted me to behave and “make you proud of me.” Ms. Carol, I really want to thank you because you helped me and made be believe I was good at dancing.

        Ms. Cohen, I want to thank you too because you said I was young but if I concentrate I could do okay. I concentrated and had a wonderful time.

        When I say this is a critical step to becoming a professional dancer I was not playing around. See the first step was getting introduced to dance. I did that a few years ago. It all started when my sisters and I were going down to Cincinnati Ballet so my sisters could audition for a class there. It so happened that I was running and the lady asked if I would like to audition.

        Of course I said “sure.” So the lady gave me a number and let me audition for the class.

        The next step from there was the commitment learned this the hard way. The rule is that you can't play sports and dance at the same time. Now as I told you I found this out the hard way. I was playing football and baseball when I started dancing. I had to end up quitting both of those in order to dance. Now I want to play basketball, but I don't know if I'll be able to do it. So there is a sacrifice when you're dancing.

        The last step of dancing is going to summer intensive programs. Now I don't know a thing about these programs. So I'm ready to go and give it all I've got. What I do know is that people who have never seen me dance before are willing to help me believe in my dream, and this has been the biggest support to me because as a child you always expect your parents to support you. But when I see other adults believe like I do that is helping me to really go forward. All I want to do is Dance and be great at it!

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