Kansas City Ballet School Senior Profile: Alyssa Gold

Dancer Alyssa Gold Photographer Brett Pruitt & East Market Studios

Kansas City Ballet School has a long history of incredible training. School Director Peter Pawlyshyn is working hard to find unique opportunities for the school’s most serious students like Alyssa Gold.

“Ever since the first time I taught Alyssa at age 11, I saw she had more enthusiasm for ballet than a whole class combined,” KCBS teacher and KCYB director Alecia Good remembers. “She’s always placed ballet first, ahead of other activities. I know it’s her dream to do dance professionally, and it shows.”

Alyssa started taking ballet at age 3 at Miller Marley School of Dance and Voice. At age 15 she transferred to KCBS to be part of the Kansas City Youth Ballet and to achieve more performance goals. Now at age 18, she has some incredible national and international performances under her belt.

Alyssa is a member of Kansas City Youth Ballet (KCYB). Being part of the youth ballet has given her additional performance opportunities with fall and spring dance programs each year. Last fall she danced the lead in the KCYB performance of Marius Petipa’s La Bayadère.

As part of the youth ballet she traveled to Europe to perform at the Young Tanzsommer Festivals in Austria and Germany in both 2005 and 2008. The group was one of five regional ballet companies from the U.S. and they performed to sold out crowds in an orphanage and then in the Dugana Palace Theatre in Innsbruck, Austria. In Germany, they performed in Oberammergau—most famous for the “Passion Play” and also home of the original wooden nutcracker factories.

“The KCBS teachers are really willing to help you. And, getting to dance in Kansas City Ballet’ s The Nutcracker along with professional dancers is an incredible experience you don’t get from other schools here in town,” Gold says.

Dancers Alyssa Gold & Rachel Duvall Photographer Brett Pruitt & East Market Studios

With her training and personal drive, Gold was accepted into summer programs over the years at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (CPYB) and Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB). These helped build on the training she received during the school year.

As a student, Alyssa received Regional Dance America scholarships and Legacy Foundation scholarships in honor of KCB founder Tatiana Dokoudovska.

This past February, Gold was offered the chance to dance in Swan Lake with the Eugene Ballet in Oregon.

“Having been the associate director and ballet master with Eugene Ballet for six years, we looked to provide performance opportunities to young artists who are just beginning their careers. As the new school director it was apparent that Alyssa was one of these young artists. It was my pleasure to recommend her to Eugene Ballet and help provide her that added opportunity,” Kansas City Ballet School Director Peter Pawlyshyn says.

“I traveled to Eugene to see Alyssa perform, and I was very proud of how well she fit in and the accolades given her by the artistic staff and company dancers of Eugene Ballet.”

Later this month Gold is traveling to Richmond, Va., for Richmond Ballet’s Summer Intensive. This fall she plans to attend UMKC and major in Dance.

“If a student wants to make ballet a career, I would definitely recommend Kansas City Ballet School. They have great teachers,” says Gold. “I’ll miss my teachers the most.”

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