Today we’d like to introduce you to Allynne Noelle Brown.
Hi Allynne Noelle, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Thomas and I met back in 2016, when we both started dancing for the renowned Balanchine ballerina Suzanne Farrell – at the time her company was the resident company of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. At the time, we were both well into our own careers. (Tommy spent the majority of his time at Richmond, Ballet, and I danced for seven years with Miami City Ballet as a soloist, and then went on to join Los Angeles Ballet as their leading principal dancer for five years.). Our second year in the Company, Suzanne saw something in the two of us that we had yet to discover, casting us as partners in almost every Ballet that season. Lucky for us, things worked out! We fell in love, and the rest is history.
Going on 10 years ago, while we were still dancing professionally, Tommy and I relocated to Minneapolis to accept a job to run the Ballet program at a major competition studio in the area. What we found while working here was incredibly enlightening. We learned all about the “Comp scene“ – something that neither one of us had any experience with coming from our classical/concert backgrounds. We also learned that we had something to offer the Twin Cities that it had yet to discover on its own.
So almost 7 years ago, WestMet Classical Training was born. We wanted to create a small school, one where we could build personal relationships with each one of our Dancers, one where we could cultivate the atmosphere, the passion, the dedication required to pursue this art form, and one where we could build a safe environment to do so – where every dancer of ours felt seen, and the parents could just be parents. We wanted to help build complete artists; Dancers that were prepared to enter the professional workforce as high school graduates, or even before that. Year after year, we have consecutively placed our graduates at internationally, renowned schools, and companies around the globe. We have Dancers at San Francisco Ballet, Academie Princess Grace in Monaco, National Ballet of Canada, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Richmond Ballet…the list goes on).
For seven seasons, now we have worked to build our dream from the ground up. We have a brilliant group of young Dancers, and a phenomenal community of parents and families that support them, and us, endlessly! We have a beautiful and unique Nutcracker Production that we put on annually, and we are thrilled to be presenting it at The Southern theater this coming holiday season with all new changes and twists! Every year since our inception we have been awarded “outstanding school”, “outstanding teacher/coach”, and “outstanding choreographer” from elite worldwide ballet competitions, like Youth America Grand Prix, and Universal Ballet Competition. Just this past season, we launched our brand new primary program, a starter Ballet program for Young aspiring Dancers ages 3 to 12.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Well, we launched our school at the height of Covid, so that was interesting! It was incredibly hard navigating the all virtual platform in a field where hands-on training is basically the only way to do it correctly. As we progressed through Covid, we had to find and build out a physical dance space where everything public was basically frozen in time… And then navigate that in person experience in uncharted territory.
At the time, Tommy and I lived in Watertown. We had a beautiful little home, with a detached garage/pole building. Tommy actually built out the loft of our pole building into a gorgeous studio space. Some of my all-time best memories teaching are in that loft space.
Beyond that, we have chosen to start and build our school in a geographical location that is incredibly tight knit. Some of the dance institutions in the area have been around for multiple generations. We hear it all the time, “I dance at such and such studio because my mom danced here when she was little“. It is an incredibly hard territory to permeate. The lineage that some of these studios and schools have is a beautiful thing, and something that we aspire to have one day as well. But it does not make it easy to enter into this region. And it proves difficult year after year. Ideas that have been around for generations don’t die easy. Just because a certain way of training is what you’ve always known doesn’t mean it’s the right way to do it, or maybe not necessarily the right way for you. We love what we do and our exceptional product speaks for itself. We stand unwavering and know that it takes time.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I think what creates the best compliment between Tommy and myself is that we approach Ballet from entirely different places, emotionally, and mentally.
While he is an absolutely phenomenal artist, and has toured the world (including performing at the Egg in China), Tommy really approaches his teaching in Ballet from a physiological and scientific standpoint. It is brilliant the way he takes complex biology type ideas, and makes them accessible to even our youngest dancers. They understand the way different ligaments and tendons thread through their hip structures. They understand how their cores and their backs connect to their dancing. They understand the multiple arches in the foot and how to activate and engage each one. Tommy also has an extensive background in physical therapy, so his knowledge for the physical health of our Dancers is endless. From recommendations as far as injury prevention to his exercises for conditioning and physical therapy – he is so knowledgeable ! And he approaches rehearsals the same way, pragmatic and mathematical. Which is why he is absolutely the master of cleaning when it comes to performance!
In my career, I was known for my Port de bras, versatility, and my artistry….and I come from a cecchetti background (exams and everything at a very young age so my knowledge of classical dance is both book smart and practiced!) But my teaching comes from a much more creative brain space. I love using visualizations and analogies to explain different theories in Ballet. I’m always asking our Dancers to transcend from human to ethereal. To visualize the impossible to be possible, to defy gravity and try to break the rules of science (not by ignoring them but by taking them further than one can conceive of). And in rehearsals and choreography, I tend to look at the overall piece and how it breathes and the message it’s sending to the audience before I see the lines and cleanliness of the corps. I do the majority of the creation and choreography at WestMet – all of which is highly influenced by my career and work with Balanchine ballets. I don’t consider myself a choreographer because I have always been a ballerina. But I love it! When I find a piece of music that speaks to me the movement pours out of me. I love creating pieces that challenge the audience to see ballet a different way.
One of my highlights as a choreographer is a piece I created a few years back I titled “Shakti” – the piece consisted of seven dancers in nude bra tops and huge ballroom style skirts in deep fall tones. I was inspired by an interesting piece of music to build something that spoke to a young woman’s challenges, power and strength. I had ideas that I felt were too mature for my 15-18 year old group of girls … and translating my concepts into tangible experiences that they as high school students could relate to was uniquely rewarding. The piece was well received everywhere and was gifted a coveted YAGP Finals offer. At Finals, every piece is performed in front of a panel of celebrity judges from the ballet world. Shakti received judges praise almost unanimously. But one judge gave a terrible score and simply wrote “the dancers are lovely but I hate this piece” along with a few more comments about how it moved this judge in a way of disgust. For me, as an artist, to be able to use a piece of music, create movement, and collaborate with a brilliant group of young ladies to build something that makes someone feel viscerally any sort of way, especially angry, was a huge reward!!! Art is supposed to move people – good bad or ugly. I don’t even care that the feedback was “negative” – to me, we did what we came for! And I was beyond proud of those girls!!
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I think what we like best about this city is the exact same as what we like least about this city… the culture and diversity.
Minneapolis has a phenomenal arts and culture scene! And the people are fascinating here! The Walker Arts Center and Sculpture Garden are my personal favorites… But the list is endless. The architecture in the city is stunning, there are museums everywhere (Children’s Museum being our 5 year old’s personal fave), the music scene is unparalleled, the theater venues are spectacular, even the raw spaces! We absolutely adore the Orchestra! We actually have a student who’s parents both work at the orchestra, one of them a musician in the company! We are so lucky to get to attend performances regularly
But that leads us to what we like least… Every major city in the country on par with Minneapolis supports a major top-tier nationwide Ballet Company. Why not here? It is such a void in the otherwise rich environment and people here. The culture is here, the venues are here, the creatives are here, and the funding is here. Why not the major ballet company?? So we do everything possible for our dancers to create the best artists we can help produce so that these dancers can find phenomenal and life-changing careers somewhere outside of the city. Imagine what a major Ballet company would look here. It would be unstoppable with the assets behind it here!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.westmetclassicaltraining.com
- Instagram: westmetclassicaltraining
- Facebook: WestMet Classical Training
