GUILDERLAND – Jane DeRook says that, in her next life, she will start ballet at the age of 6.
DeRook, who claims to have "two left feet," founded the Guilderland Ballet, which is about to begin its 40th year.
The school was founded in 1968; DeRook said that it took two years before the town fully backed the idea. "I made it difficult for them" I kept pushing," she remembered proudly.
DeRook moved to the United States from "war-stricken Europe" in 1954, to finish her post-graduate medical studies at the University of Pittsburgh. She grew up in Indonesia, and got her medical education in the Netherlands.
"I had never seen a ballet in my life," DeRook said. It was her 5-year-old daughter, Frances, who began DeRook’s deep appreciation for the art of ballet.
"She danced through the house," DeRook said with a smile, remembering her child’s movements.
DeRook started searching for a dance school for her daughter, she said. "It drove me to think the town should offer something good," she said.

At first, classes were offered at Westmere Elementary School, and gradually, she said, more classes such as pre-ballet and jazz, were added. The Guilderland Ballet also now offers Pilates and yoga.
The demand for more class time steadily increased, and became too much for the elementary school to handle. DeRook remembered that, at one point, the ballet school’s future "looked very bleak."
In 1987, developer Armand Quadrini donated an old hay barn to the Guilderland Ballet on the Mill Hill property he owned off of Route 155 in Guilderland. DeRook remembers neighbors and friends asking her, "Jane, did you see the barn"
"With help from the community, we managed to turn it into a ballet studio," DeRook said, of the barn where the Guilderland Ballet still takes up residency.

Over the years, the school acquired another building, formerly the chapel of the Mill Hill missionaries, and later built on an entryway and main office. The town has contributed to the undertaking.

Antique pews from the old chapel provide seating for the students in the dressing room.
DeRook, who recently retired from medical practice, has learned what she knows about ballet through her interest, she says. "It’s one of the most beautiful arts," she said.
Ballet brings together music, composing, choreography, theater, lighting, and costume, said DeRook. "It’s such a conglomerate of the arts," she added.
"Learning how to dance is basically like learning to speak," DeRook said. "It’s a process," she said, learning the letters, forming words, putting words together, until you have a story.

Ballet is demanding – it requires flexibility, musicality, and determination, DeRook said.
"Kids nowadays have too many opportunities," DeRook said. "I don’t think you should automatically enroll a 5-year-old in a soccer class.
"It’s hard to make up lost time in life," she said.
"The strength of our 40 years has been our staff," DeRook said of the school. "We have a very good record," she said. "I give credit to our teachers."

"Crown jewels"

Julie Gale has been teaching at Guilderland Ballet for three years. She has been dancing since she was 3 years old, she said.
"Julie is one of our crown jewels," said DeRook.
Gale’s mother enrolled her in a ballet school in New Jersey, where she grew up, because there were no kids on the block, she said. "She thought it would be a good way to make friends," said Gale.
She began training with Fred Danieli when she was 6. "It was the real thing," Gale remembered. "One class a week became two, then three" And then it was every day," she said.

Danieli founded the Garden State Ballet, which Gale joined when she was 13.

The group toured around New Jersey, performing a show called Introduction to Ballet, said Gale.
"I was 13 and among people 18 and up," she said.

The group was on the road for about 13 weeks, and would perform two shows each day, she remembered.
Following the afternoon performance, Gale said, "I had to go back to the hotel and do homework.
"It was very interesting as an educational process," said Gale. "It was a great learning experience."
"The stage became home," she said.
Gale said that there used to be a preconceived notion that dancers were dumb. Danieli used to tell his students, "You have to be smart to be a dancer."

Because Gale had to take her glasses off to perform and she didn’t yet have contact lenses, she wasn’t able to see the audience. She admits that it may have made it easier.
"She has a tremendous memory," DeRook said of her star teacher, recalling that Gale had remembered the steps to a dance she had done with the Garden State Ballet when she was 13. "That was remarkable to me," DeRook said.
Ballet is more than dancing; it teaches a student "how to conduct oneself as a professional and a decent person," said Gale.
"Ballet goes far beyond learning steps," said DeRook. Gale offers expertise to her students "not just as a dancer, but as a teacher and choreographer," DeRook added.
Music is an important aspect of ballet, Gale said. "I tell my students to listen to the music," she said. "It’s a great musical education for them."
"I’m truly in awe at what a dance teacher gives to students," said DeRook. "You have to develop them mentally and physically," she said, adding that, as a physician, she places importance on the physical aspect.
"A lot of people don’t realize how important ballet is as a foundation," Gale said. The good dancers have always started with ballet, she said.
"Education is never wasted," DeRook said.
Gale advises her students to learn all parts of a ballet. "You’ve got to learn everything, even if you think you’re never going to do it," she said.
"The show must go on," DeRook said, even if a dancer is sick.

The male role
Gale will introduce ballroom dancing at the Guilderland Ballet beginning in September. "I’m personally very excited about it," said DeRook.
Gale is planning to combine elements of Latin salsa, swing, rumba, and cha-cha – dance styles that she says are "more rhythmic."

The class will really depend on who is in it, she said. She is hoping to attract some male participants.
"There’s a strange phenomena in America that boys can’t dance," said DeRook, adding that boys in Denmark take ballet class with the girls.
Her son, Laurence DeRook, took ballet until he was about 12 – when his classmates started calling him "Twinkle Toes," said DeRook.

She remembers how hard it was for him, as a very young boy, to sit still as the two watched his two sisters in their ballet class. DeRook said that she told him, if he didn’t sit still, she would buy him a pair of ballet slippers and he would take class, too.

All three of DeRook’s children wanted to be dancers, at one point, but all three went in different directions, she said. Laurence became a captain in the merchant marines; Frances became a cardiologist; and Suzanne danced in the Berkshire Ballet before becoming a teacher – she taught for 14 years at the Guilderland Ballet.

The school once had a class of nine boys, some who went on to be professional dancers, DeRook said.
"Occasionally, we’ll have a courageous boy," DeRook said. Most parents, especially fathers, she said, believe their sons need to play sports. "The athlete that a male dancer is, it’s unbelievable," said DeRook.
It is a "talent lost," she said, of boys who don’t dance.
The male role is different than the female’s, depending on the style of dance, Gale said. In ballroom dancing, she said, "He’s the boss." In ballet, "He’s there to support you," she said.
Gale performs in a ballroom company, called Tango Fusion, in Saratoga, and says, "When you’re still performing, you can bring a lot more to your students."
Teaching, she said, "is very rewarding."
Though Gale will most likely never get rich teaching ballet, DeRook said, "She will be rich in ways that a lot of people would envy."
DeRook says that she has been lucky to have had the "best teachers" over the years. DeRook’s staff, in addition to Gale, includes Kay Fuller and Janet Murphy.

The reward for DeRook, in the past 40 years, has been, in part, seeing the students’ abilities progress, she said, citing numerous cards of thanks from former students.
One in particular remains vivid in her memory. The card was from a former student who had gone on to dance in college. She wrote, "You ran a tough ship" But it worked," DeRook recalled, admitting the school has strict rules.
"If they don’t have manners, they will have them by the time they leave this school," DeRook said.
The other rewarding aspect has been "working with teachers like Julie," she said.
"To teach here is extremely rewarding because of Jane’s commitment to ballet," Gale responded in kind. "I think the commitment to the art form of ballet is part of what makes this school so special," she said.
The school, concluded DeRook, has become "something of a beautiful accomplishment."