Balancing two highly time-consuming activities can be stressful, but San José State student Deborah Le is able to manage part of her day to her studies and the other part of her passion: dance.
Le has elevated her skill to the next level and is debuting her choreographing skills during New Ballet dance company’s eighth annual “Fast Forward” program.
Deborah Le, a third-year justice studies student with a concentration in criminology, has taken up a choreographer role for the upcoming program, according to a New Ballet webpage.
“Fast Forward” is scheduled to feature at the Hammer Theatre Center where emerging local and country-wide choreographers can debut programs to an audience as well as discuss the creative and planning process with said audiences, according to the same webpage.
“I think that for a first-time choreographer, I was definitely given a lot of help in where I get to perform, when I get to perform, like, lots of liberties and opportunities all at once, which I don't think that many people will get outside of this,” Le said.
Le started her dance career at a young age following the footsteps of her older sister, Naomi Le.
“We kind of joke around saying how our director, artistic director and our teacher basically watched us grow up. We’ve literally been in the program together,” Naomi Le said.
Le said that after high school, she thought she would be faced with an ultimatum in which she would either have to quit school to continue pursuing dance or vice versa.
“Having come from homeschooling, ballet was pretty much my everything and then when I was a senior, I was like, do I have to pick between the two? Yes or no? But I havent had to think of between the two. Im taking five classes at San José and still full time at the junior company,” Le said.
With “New Ballet” Le along with her sister, Naomi Le, have been able to do both.
“New Ballet really understands that especially in the Bay Area, ballet can't be everything to a person,” Naomi said.
The New Ballet dance company is a ballet institution in Silicon Valley that develops dancers by focusing on developing the individual, according to the New Ballet webpage.
Deborah said that she was able to have this debut choreograph opportunity through workshops.
“It started with the choreography workshop, and that was pretty much either just me or my friend Jack Concordia, and that was around maybe March or April of 2024 and then as we started going on to more and more outreaches,” Le said.
Jack Concordia is another member of the New Ballet dance company and friend of Le and has seen the growth of her skill and how she has been able to implement it to the upcoming show.
“Her experience and background can be seen through how she makes simple movements so captivating. There are little to no complicated steps in her piece. There's no partnering at all, and it's still so captivating to watch and really fun to perform,” Concordia said.
However, with large opportunities, a set of struggles came with them too.
“I struggled so hard with finding music I really, really liked and music I wouldn't get sick of,” Deborah said. “I would listen to it on repeat over and over and over again. I kind of developed where the accents are within the counts.”
Those surrounding Deborah believe that her approach as a choreographer is what will help make the upcoming show successful.
Naomi is placed in a different tier than Deborah in the company giving her a more of a supervisor role. However, regardless of differences in roles, Naomi said Le is still able to maintain a level of control and respect.
“During rehearsals, it is very interactive, but she's still the leader in our rehearsals. Naomi said, “That's a hard relationship to find with a bunch of dancers. It amazes me because sometimes I work with professional choreographers who have struggled to keep that kind of respect towards professional dancers.”
Deborah said that throughout her years in ballet, she has learned discipline and that has now translated into other aspects of her life.
“I think Debbie, in all areas of her life, holds herself to the highest standard. She doesn't really catch a break for herself normally,” Naomi said.
With Deborah’s choreography debut approaching in “Fast Forward,” she said there are several things she hopes her audience will get out of watching the performance.
“I think the best outcome would be to show off the dancers and to give people a different taste of what contemporary (dance) looks like,” Deborah said.
“Fast Forward” is scheduled to debut at the Hammer Theatre Center at 7 p.m. on March 21 and 22, according to New Ballet’s press release.
