Aliya (pronounced Ah-LEE-ya) got pointed toward dance by her seven-years-older sister. A dancer herself, she suggested to Aliya, when she was about nine, that she audition, the very next day, for her dance studio.
Aliya did. She fell in love immediately and got plenty of familial encouragement.
Starting with all the usual dance style suspects, she came to concentrate on her ballet and jazz classes, which had especially strong teachers.
“When did dance become more serious for you?” I ask. “I remember a conversation with my dad When she was a freshman in high school, she says. “My dance training was taking a lot of time and resources and making big physical and mental demands on everyone. He asked me, “Is this what you want to do?” That is, he questioned her spending so much of her own and the family’s resources if it wasn’t what she really wanted to do with her life.
She said that her first reaction to this confrontation was “to cry, a lot. I knew how hard it had been for me.” It took up her whole life. “I had classes every day and didn’t really have any friends outside that.” But when explicitly challenged to confront what it meant, how important it was for her, she realized that “no matter how hard it gets, I want to come back to it.”
All this time, while still studying at the same studio, Aliya was traveling a lot to meet teachers in different states and take intensives and becoming acquainted with the world of concert dance. As time went on she began attending academic classes only half days so she’d have time to travel for training elsewhere.
“I was very disciplined when I was younger,” she says, and adds with a wry smile, “probably more than I am now.”
After her junior high school year, Aliya was doing an intensive in Turino, Italy, when she met a woman named Angelica Stiskin, Artistic Director of the Jazz and Contemporary division of Joffrey Ballet School. With her encouragement, instead spending a regular senior high school year, Aliya moved to New York City to enroll in the Joffrey Ballet’s four-year J&C program.
Despite quite a bit of travel, New York was “a big shock” for Aliya after growing up in Evergreen, Colorado. But the city “is such a huge mecca for dance, and there’s such a good community. All the hard parts were worth it.” Helped by Angelica, who became “a huge mentor and now close friend—she came to my first Whim performance.” During the last year of this period, Aliya started to work for her as teaching assistant, choreographic assistant and rehearsal director.”
I asked her if she had developed an interest in choreography. Not directly, she said, but “I love working to bring someone’s vision to life.”
After completing the Joffrey program she worked for Angelica and danced free-lance. “I knew I wanted to be in a company,” she says and had been aware of Whim W’Him especially, so that when a call went out for dancers prior to the present season, she was ready. She auditioned, and here she is.
About her move to a new place, Aliya is very positive, “I enjoy that Seattle doesn’t feel like a big city but has all the benefits. It’s close to nature, too—and my sister [who stopped dancing a couple of years after Aliya began] lives just outside.” As to Whim W’Him, “I think I love it because it makes me know each dancer is a star in their own right. Relationships are very important to me and Whim lets me develop close ones.”
And now down to the serious facts about Aliya:
Favorite foods: “Risotto, scallion pancakes and tacos.”
Favorite beverage: “I’ve always just loved water, plain water. But lately we’ve all been getting into natural wines.”
Favorite music: “It’s always been purple.”
Favorite music: “Anything that makes me feel nostalgic, there is no artist or style that I love in particular. Just anything that brings up a memory or feeling!”
And what does she do when she’s not dancing? “I am a big reader, I love to do puzzles, cook, and I am also getting my yoga certification!”