KCB School Student Profile - Meet Durante Verzola

The eldest of six children, this serious student understands responsibility and aspires to be a professional dancer. He started tap at age 6 and ballet at age 7 in New York, where he lived for three years. After that his family moved to Alaska where he continued his dance lessons.  As Durante put it, “Moving around a lot is just part of the territory when your father is in the army.”

Now living in Leavenworth, the 13-year-old has attended KCBS for a year and had the opportunity to perform the role of the Prince in KCB’s 2008 production of The Nutcracker. 

Durante recently attended KCBS’s 2009 Summer Intensive program and we had a chance to sit down with him and talk about his experience.  “It is really intense like the title says. You need to be serious. If you’re just here to socialize, you won’t get enough out of it. You have to have your head AND your heart in it. You must be passionate to get the most out of it.”

He was excited to attend the program because he wanted to improve his technique and because the program included other dance classes like jazz and modern, in addition to ballet. But, what was the most important thing he learned?

“You need to stretch every day to improve your extensions and flexibility. It’s essential to ballet,” Durante says.

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