Be the Change: Laurel Tennant

Laurel Tennant began ballet at the age of six in her hometown of Paradise. From then on, Laurel lived and breathed ballet, eagerly coaching younger students as her skills matured and devoting many summers to ballet intensives across the country. Today, her seven-year-old twins, Scarlett and Aria, and four-year-old daughter Felicity dance in their mother’s footsteps at North State Ballet (NSB), the Chico studio Laurel co-owns with Heather Wysong and Gabrielle Chaplin.

A new, healthier model of dance instruction

Laurel describes being raised in the “old school” way of teaching dance – a methodology that demanded pushing mental and physical health aside because any break could cost her the dance career to which she aspired. By the time she started teaching at Boston Ballet School, Laurel had “uncovered a different way: balancing the necessary, rigorous demands and expectations of the elite dance world with positivity, support and care for the young dancer as a whole.”

Evelyn Cisneros-Legate, then a principal at Boston Ballet School, recalls how Laurel’s approach attracted students of all ages. “The rapport she has with children is so engaging and caring that children are just drawn to her,” Evelyn says. “And hers was the only adult class we had to cap; we had to limit it to 50 people, she regularly had that many in class!”

North State Ballet offers children nurturing, support-based professional ballet training

In 2015, after returning to California, Laurel teamed up with her friend Heather to fill the local need for a distinctly support-based approach to professional ballet training. A decade later, the studio now offers all forms of dance and bustles with over 250 students whose families deeply value the quality and kindness they experience at NSB.

Lindsay Van Dewark enrolled her daughters in classes at NSB when they were only 2 years old. She admits she “wasn’t sure if the dance world would be competitive in an unhealthy way. I was relieved to find NSB has an incredible atmosphere of support and kindness.” Lindsay says the older students dote on her little girls, who, now four and seven, “flourish with strong role models.” Lindsay credits Laurel for much of the nurturing culture at the studio. She describes Laurel’s teaching as “so thoughtfully individualized. She manages a classroom, but she’s also seeing what each individual needs. She has the ability to challenge each dancer just the right amount to promote a very healthy level of tenacity and grit without overwhelming them.”

Young children reap lifelong benefits from learning dance

NSB’s intentional, developmentally appropriate curriculum starts with students as young as 18 months and continues through their pre-professional trainee levels. “At the younger ages, we have fun, but with each carefully selected exercise we’re also teaching them important skills, like how to use their bodies, understand their muscles and develop all of these cross-brain connections,” Laurel says. She especially encourages parents to enroll their children from ages 3-8; dance of any kind during these formative physical years develops a foundation of flexibility, control and strength that will benefit them in any sport or activity throughout their lives.

Laurel Tennant teaches young dancers with fun, carefully selected exercises that show them how to use their bodies, understand their muscles and develop important cross-brain connections. Photos by Isabel Ruiz.

Beyond the physical benefits, Lindsay lists dozens of other skills fostered by Laurel and the other NSB staff that enrich her daughters’ daily lives, including self-discipline, problem-solving, critical thinking, persistence, teamwork and adaptability. “Whenever a kid is facing some sort of challenge, Laurel turns it into this opportunity for families to connect and for students to connect with the teachers and grow from it,” Lindsay says.

Laurel’s daughters, Scarlett, Felicity and Aria, are learning important personal skills through their love of dance.

North State Ballet’s high standards require the best of students

NSB students begin each season by signing a student contract that holds them to high standards in dance, academics and in showing respect toward their families, the community and themselves. Because of these standards, NSB has “often been accused of being ‘intense and hardcore,’” Laurel says. “And it makes me laugh. If it’s hardcore to encourage a young child to be their best in all ways, I’m OK with that accusation!”

Cultivating kind, compassionate human beings through dance

Laurel looks up a generation to her mom and down a generation to her three daughters for her greatest sources of inspiration. “I could not do this business without my mom,” she says. Laurel describes her mother, who ran Progressive Schoolhouse (a unique private elementary school in Chico emphasizing learning through art and individualized curriculum) for 35 years, as a role model for “daring to be different” and making positive change in the community. Her mother now homeschools Scarlett, Aria and Felicity. Laurel notes that Felicity, who was born with Down syndrome, inspires her “because she’s a miracle. People doubted her before she was even here, but Down syndrome doesn’t hold her back from anything. It’s so inspiring to see her take on life!”

While Laurel’s life pirouettes around the studio, her family, friends and students know that dance itself is not her main priority. Laurel’s greater goal is to make the North State a better place by helping to cultivate traits like kindness, integrity and compassion in the next generation. As she supports her own daughters and the children of many families in the North State, Laurel keeps this truth in mind: “My job is not actually to make the next best dancer; my job is to make the next best human – to be part of that growth and development. If you’re a good human, you can do anything.”