Kampa comes home to perform at the KenCen in October. Photograph of by Irakly Shandize.
When the Mariinsky Ballet begins a run of Prokofiev’s Cinderella at the Kennedy Center this month, a local 23-year-old will be amid the Russians onstage. Keenan Kampa, who grew up in Fairfax County, joined the Mariinsky in June as the first American dancer in its 200-plus-year history. Kampa began dancing at age four at Reston’s Conservatory Ballet. By high school, she had decided “to try to dance professionally—or at least go as far as I could.” That turned out to be with Russia’s premier company.
“Sometimes when a company is touring at the Kennedy Center, it gives a master class,” she says. “When Mariinsky was there in January 2007, I took the class and the ballet master said basically, ‘We want you to come.’ ” The invitation was to attend the company’s Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg—and Kampa, then 17, accepted. She says her three years there were worth the effort: “It’s incredible to see how they appreciate things. Americans take things for granted, but they don’t have the resources we do.” Initially, her Russian peers didn’t seem to expect her to be up to the task. “They’re focused and even cold at first,” she says, “but if you earn their respect, they’re the most loyal people.”
After graduation, Kampa landed at the Boston Ballet, but it didn’t take long for the Mariinsky to snatch her back. Is she nervous to be dancing at the Kennedy Center with such an august company? “To be in front of an American audience in the place where I grew up will be really exciting, actually. Not scary.”
Catch the Mariinsky Ballet’s Performance of Cinderella October 16 through 21 at the Kennedy Center. For more information, visit the Kennedy Center’s website.
This article appears in the October 2012 issue of The Washingtonian.
Cinderella Story: Virginia’s Mariinsky Ballerina
Russia’s esteemed Mariinsky Ballet never had an American in its ranks in 200 years—until a twentysomething from Fairfax County came along.
When the Mariinsky Ballet begins a run of Prokofiev’s
Cinderella at the Kennedy Center this month, a local 23-year-old will be amid the Russians onstage. Keenan Kampa, who grew up in Fairfax County, joined the Mariinsky in June as the first American dancer in its 200-plus-year history. Kampa began dancing at age four at Reston’s Conservatory Ballet. By high school, she had decided “to try to dance professionally—or at least go as far as I could.” That turned out to be with Russia’s premier company.
“Sometimes when a company is touring at the Kennedy Center, it gives a master class,” she says. “When Mariinsky was there in January 2007, I took the class and the ballet master said basically, ‘We want you to come.’ ” The invitation was to attend the company’s Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg—and Kampa, then 17, accepted. She says her three years there were worth the effort: “It’s incredible to see how they appreciate things. Americans take things for granted, but they don’t have the resources we do.” Initially, her Russian peers didn’t seem to expect her to be up to the task. “They’re focused and even cold at first,” she says, “but if you earn their respect, they’re the most loyal people.”
After graduation, Kampa landed at the Boston Ballet, but it didn’t take long for the Mariinsky to snatch her back. Is she nervous to be dancing at the Kennedy Center with such an august company? “To be in front of an American audience in the place where I grew up will be really exciting, actually. Not scary.”
Catch the Mariinsky Ballet’s Performance of Cinderella October 16 through 21 at the Kennedy Center. For more information, visit the Kennedy Center’s website.
This article appears in the October 2012 issue of The Washingtonian.
Most Popular in News & Politics
What It Felt Like for a Virginia Marching Band to Win Metallica’s Contest
What’s IN and OUT in DC Restaurant Trends for 2024
Introducing 8 of DC’s Most Stylish
Best of Washington 2023: Things to Eat, Drink, Do, and Know Right Now
Washingtonian Magazine
May 2024: Great Getaways
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
13 Major Concerts and Music Festivals in the DC Area This Spring
Mary Timony on Her Emotional New Album, “Untame the Tiger”
The Beatles in DC: A New Exhibit in Maryland Looks Back on Early Beatlemania
Northern Virginia High School Wins Metallica’s Marching Band Competition
More from News & Politics
Democrats and Republicans Pass Balls, Not Bills, at Congressional Soccer Game
3 New Memoirs by Prominent Women
Everything You Wanted to Know About Urban Bear Sightings but Were Afraid to Ask, Because Who Wants to Get That Close to a Bear?
Rockville Police Are Searching for Culprits of a $4,500 Pickleball Paddle Heist
Dozens of Vintage Planes Will Fly Over the National Mall This Saturday
PHOTOS: “Rupaul’s Drag Race” Queens Work It at the National Mall
Meet the NIH Detectives Cracking Medicine’s Toughest Cases
5 of DC’s Most Interesting Ideas for Revitalizing Chinatown