Artistic Director & Founder, River City Youth Ballet Ensemble
Director, School of the River City Youth Ballet
By Mallory Legg
Michelle Raider knew what she wanted to do with her life when she was seven. “I figured it all out on my own,” she reminisces. Years of training and hard work have paid off: Raider is currently the artistic director and founder of the River City Youth Ballet Ensemble, as well as director of the School of the River City Youth Ballet.
Raider founded the company in 1995 in order to help children in the area realize their dreams of dancing and also to fulfill her desire to teach. “I was so lucky to have the opportunity to go to Walnut Hill School for the Arts through my high school career,” she says about her days of early education. After high school, Raider studied with Nicholas Pacana and the Atlanta Ballet, David Howard and L’Ecole Superior of Montreal. She has danced with the Charleston Ballet and the Boston Ballet and has taken lead roles in several productions, including Sleeping Beauty in New York City. “I want to give dancers here similar opportunities without going out of the state,” she adds. Raider succeeds in this by bringing in master instructors from companies such as the New York City Ballet, the Moscow Ballet and the Kirov and by taking her students on yearly trips to New York and sending her students to performing arts schools, dance camps and colleges. “Dance is as hard as any sport,” she adds, “and you also have the artistry. That just makes it incredibly difficult.”
Throughout her life, Raider says she has been incredibly blessed to have many role models and mentors. Both her grandmother and mother played important parts in her childhood, supporting her to the utmost. Her mother used to drive her to Pittsburgh weekly for her Saturday dance lessons. Raider’s first job was working in her grandfather’s store in Clendenin, Tater’s Food Market, ringing up customers. Even from a young age, she had what she considers her most valuable attribute: determination. “I think I set my goals and don’t stop until I get something I want,” she says. It wasn’t until 1985 when she worked with the Charleston Ballet under the direction of Andre Van Damme that she got her first paycheck and began to realize her dream.
Raider’s teachers have also helped her throughout her career. “I’ve had so many wonderful teachers,” she says. “One of my fellow teachers that I really respected was Duncan Noble.” Noble passed away, but Raider continues to praise the effect he had on her and West Virginia dance programs. “He worked so hard on raising the level of dance here. He just had a very strong presence.” Raider can’t imagine life without teaching. “Teaching and dance is just a way I express myself without speaking,” she says, and attests that she’s a naturally shy person.
Her students at the school continue to make her proud and happy. In its 2007 session, the West Virginia legislature declared the River City Youth Ballet Ensemble the state’s official youth ballet, an obvious honor. They are also widely recognized in their community; in their past season they sold 800 seats at The Clay Center for both of their evening shows and also completely sold out their afternoon school performances at the same venue. “I think what motivates me the most is seeing the progress the company is making…the progress of the students and working with other wonderful teachers.”
Raider isn’t all dance, all the time, though. In 1997 she graduated from West Virginia State University, summa cum laude, with a degree in Chemistry, having been awarded a NASA research scholarship in her field in 1996. She particularly enjoys fishing with her son, who just started kindergarten, and mystery novels. “I think my favorite childhood memory would be fishing with my grandfather on the Elk River,” she says. Raider has also visited Budapest, Hungary several times, where she has family and shows off her dancing skills. Raider adds, “I think it’s always important to continue to learn and study. You can always be better.”
With packed classes, an award-winning company and a young son, Raider has her hands full for awhile. The company ranges in ages from 12 to 22, and the school offers a variety of classes, including some for very small children and an all-male ballet class where she often brings in male instructors to keep her boys motivated and show them what men can do in the field. Her plans include continuing quality dance education at her school and fostering West Virginia’s dance future. After all, as her fellow colleague and mentor Noble once said, “It’s not who you teach or where you teach, it’s what you teach.”
Photography by Rick Lee
