G
race Reeves’s story is not one that’s just about achieving a goal. Yes, becoming a professional ballet dancer is an obscure career path. Yes, it was her childhood dream. Yes, it was risky (still is) and full of overwhelming disappointments and triumphs. But, the most important part of Grace’s story is her innate ability to persevere—and there’s a lesson for everyone in that—even if you don’t know what a pirouette is. She was seven and athletic and all of her friends were boys. “Yeah, I didn’t really even like to brush my hair,” she jokes. Until she met Emily. Emily was seven too, and she was going to be taking ballet lessons from a “real” ballerina. Grace wanted to take lessons too. (Ballet lessons also meant Emily’s mom, who “could do hair really well” would fix Grace’s hair and take her to 99 cent burger night at Burger King afterward— a sweet deal for an impressionable little girl with gumption.) That real ballerina is Terry-Ellen Shields, wife of the late David Shields (Principal, The Royal Ballet), who trained under Anthony Nelle of the American Ballet Theatre and the Ballet Russe in New York City. She danced primarily in Boston, New York and St. Louis until she opened the Classical Ballet Centre (formerly the SC Children’s Ballet Theatre) in Summerville in 1983. “I made her commit to a year with Terry-Ellen,” says Grace’s mother, Jan. “Our family is musical, so we thought the music coupled with the athleticism of ballet might capture her attention.” Did it ever. From the beginning, those same values Mrs. Shields sought to foster—self-discipline, personal excellence, responsibility, commitment, perseverance and grace—were present in Grace. By
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age nine, the young dancer was attending daily classes by her own urging. “I made up my mind. I was really focused. I was going to be a ballet dancer,” she says. At 11, it was obvious to Mrs. Shields that Grace was one of several extraordinary students in an overwhelmingly talented class of young people. Then suddenly at age 12, Grace’s musicality, her ability “to not just dance to the music but to be inside of the music when she danced,” became undeniable. Mrs. Shields explains, “Most kids dance because they enjoy it, but with Grace, it was something she had to do in order to be happy. When she danced, you could see her soul lighting up the stage.” All that was inside and a part of Grace was suddenly visible on the outside. “It was her integrity and warm, loving heart that made her sensitive to the music and that radiated across the stage.” Others took notice of Grace’s unique ability too. The summers following eighth and ninth grades, she was accepted to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), an institution open internationally to students of the fine arts. Then, along with her mother and younger brother, James, she moved to attend the school full-time as a sophomore in high school. Her father remained in Summerville to cultivate his law practice, and the family took turns traveling between North Carolina and South Carolina on weekends and holidays. Because the UNCSA is part of the University of North Carolina as a high school curriculum program, Grace was suddenly in the company of renowned teachers and a plethora of extremely talented dancers from around the world. “Tenth grade was hard,” she admits. “I played catch-up