Unique Hill ballet dancer ends her extraordinary career

Posted 8/22/18

Chestnut Hill's own Carinthia Bank (right) had to be at least a little nervous as she stood backstage in costume with an unnamed Ukrainian dancer for her debut performance with the Donetsk Ballet in …

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Unique Hill ballet dancer ends her extraordinary career

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Chestnut Hill's own Carinthia Bank (right) had to be at least a little nervous as she stood backstage in costume with an unnamed Ukrainian dancer for her debut performance with the Donetsk Ballet in "Swan Lake" in Ukraine in September 2012.

by Len Lear

In 2012, the acclaimed Donetsk Ballet of Ukraine, which tours internationally, had about 60 dancers in all of their touring groups, of whom Carinthia Bank of Chestnut Hill was the only non-Ukrainian. After attending primary school at Germantown Friends School, Bank went to the prestigious Kirov Academy in Washington, D.C., a private boarding school where she studied ballet as well as academic subjects. (Carinthia had taken ballet classes after school at the Wissahickon Dance Academy in Germantown from 2001 to 2008.)

Because of her extraordinary talent, Carinthia, now 23, was invited to join the Donetsk, led by artistic director Vadim Pisarev, upon her graduation from Kirov in May of 2012. She had already been accepted to Princeton University, but she opted to defer admission and traveled instead to Ukraine.

This unique experience allowed Carinthia to dance such ballets with Donetsk as “Spartacus,” “Le Corsaire,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Peer Gynt” and, of course, “Swan Lake,” which the company performed over 140 times.

“As a human being,” she told us last week, “many of my best ballet-related experiences involve spending time with my ballet friends. I think that the experience of feeling so close with other people has been very important to me, and it was easier to find that in ballet than in other spaces because it came naturally as we pursued something so hard alongside each other, laughed and cried.

“In the company, I also had some very special human experiences. As an introvert, I find it easy to get overstimulated, and walking around Donetsk alone, I found peace in not understanding the words in the air or on signs around me. I had the opportunity to appreciate beauty outside of words, and I learned to feel the joy inside of myself.

“The language barrier also enabled me to appreciate other people in new ways. As in any community, there was some drama in the company, but I didn't understand it, and nobody pressured me to pick sides.”

Despite this truly unique experience as the only American in the company, Carinthia stopped dancing in the summer of 2013, flying back to Philadelphia on July 4. After having such a thrilling, storybook experience, why did Carinthia leave?

This photo was taken at a conference that Carinthia’s student group hosted at Princeton University in October, 2016. They are, from left: Catherine Babiec, a rower, class of 2017; Carinthia; Brian Taylor, a Princeton alumnus and professional basketball player, and Erica Waller-Hill, Olympic hopeful and founder of Destined for a Dream Foundation.[/caption]

“Many reasons,” she said. “I could never quite work out the balance between working hard enough that I thought it was worth it for me to be dancing and not pushing myself so hard that I hurt myself, physically and mentally. At that point, I really valued perfection … I felt bad that I was putting time into ballet when I could be putting it into something that helped other people.

“I was actually able to find more joy in dancing when I was in the company than I had when I was in school, but I still felt that I wasn't perfect enough to deserve to continue … I did have a lot of other interests that I wanted to explore. Some of the ballet friends I admire the most as artists and people do an incredible job of incorporating other interests into their lives as dancers, but I did not know how to use my other interests to complement my dancing …

“I had four days to decide (whether to stay or leave), and I still think those were the worst four days of my life. I came to the conclusion that if it was this hard to make the decision at that point, I did not want to know how hard it would be after another year dancing, another year of loving the company and my life there. I decided to leave rather than ever have to make the decision again.”

Carinthia graduated with honors as a history major from Princeton last year and now plans to study sports psychology in the United Kingdom. Her ultimate goal is to be a therapist within an organization that offers a full range of support to athletes going through retirement and life transition.

“This plan,” she explained, “comes, of course, from my own post-ballet struggles. I was very confused early in my time at Princeton because I was loving college but feeling horribly lost and empty at the same time. When I started reading articles about athletes retiring and going through ‘transition,’ I realized that I wasn't alone and that there was hope …

“I think it's unfortunate for an athlete and for the rest of society when the athlete's energy and power to contribute is lost, post-retirement. In my future work, I hope to support former athletes in feeling well and to create a space where they can get to know their whole selves, appreciate their transferrable skills and find new sources of fulfillment.”

Carinthia’s father, Brad, is a lawyer, and her mother, Daryl, is an obstetrician/gynecologist who formerly worked at Chestnut Hill Hospital. She has a sister, Caroline. Carinthia, by the way, is named for a friend of her mother's. "I never met anyone else with my name," she once told us.

You can reach Len Lear at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com

arts, locallife