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Courtney Necessary has danced with the Atlanta Ballet since 2003. |
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Like a lot of college students, Courtney Necessary often has trouble
dragging herself out of bed in the morning – but not because she keeps
hitting the snooze button. She needs that extra 10 minutes because of
the tremendous toll ballet dancing takes on her body.
"Sometimes we get really, really sore," says Necessary, a 22-year-old
dancer for the Atlanta Ballet who's also a management major at Georgia
Tech Scheller College of Business. "I can pop just about every joint in my
body. Luckily I haven't had any bad injuries, just a few broken bones.
I once broke my nose from kneeing myself in the face, and I cracked my
tailbone."
After enduring eight hours of dance rehearsals a day, Necessary has
come to the College for evening classes since enrolling at Tech in
2003. Her 35-week-a-year contract with the Atlanta Ballet frees her up
to take more classes during summers, so Necessary expects to be a
senior by spring 2008. She's appreciative of the Atlanta Ballet's
flexibility about allowing her to leave rehearsals for exams and other
school requirements.
Necessary, who felt drawn to attend Tech because her father is a
graduate, believes her management degree will open doors to great job
opportunities after her dancing career ends in her later 20s. Most
female dancers peak around age 26 and usually leave the profession by
30 because of the severe physical demands, she explains.
Focusing her management studies on finance, Necessary has already
gotten some real-world business experience by serving on the finance
committee for the Atlanta Ballet's union, helping find inventive
solutions to the types of financial struggles faced by many arts
organizations. "With ballet, the audience just sees the visual
element," Necessary says. "They have no idea what goes on behind the
scenes. It really is run like a normal company."
People often ask Necessary if she'd one day like to run her own ballet
company, but right now her interests lean more toward joining the
growing green movement of environmentally friendly, sustainable
businesses in a financial capacity.
Before her dancing days end, she sometimes dreams of joining a bigger
company somewhere like San Francisco, but she says she probably loves
Atlanta too much to leave. Her family lives here, and her older sister
is also a dancer for the Atlanta Ballet. "I love the company,"
Necessary says. "Since we've got only 21 dancers, we get lots of great
opportunities to perform different parts."
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