Professional dancer Lezlie Gray (’18) combines her love for the medium of ballet with a deep understanding of the meaning of creativity and art cultivated throughout her experience with classical Christian education.
Lezlie started dancing at the age of 2. When she was 8 years old, she watched a production of “The Nutcracker” that featured alum Kelly Weber (‘11) as Clara, inspiring Lezlie to pursue dance more seriously and begin training at Delaware Dance Company. After graduating upper school in 2018, Lezlie moved to Mississippi to join a ballet trainee program, then moved to Chicago in summer 2019 to dance as a company apprentice with Ballet 5:8, a touring ballet company that uses the arts to spread the Gospel message.
Today, Lezlie is a company artist with Ballet 5:8 and recently performed in her first lead role with the company: Young Gomer in “Reckless,” a full-length ballet that brings awareness to human trafficking through a retelling of the biblical story of Hosea and Gomer set in modern Chicago. The company premiered the ballet in March 2020 and has since performed it in Peoria, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
“Getting to portray such a hard role has been difficult, but [it] has also been very rewarding to get to share this story in such an intimate way,” Lezlie said.
Lezlie said that her experience in classical Christian education instilled an appreciation for the arts through both technical knowledge and understanding their relation to Christianity.
“Seeing Christ in all things, I can implement that into my dance training, especially with the company that I’m with,” she said. “We talk a lot about truth, goodness, and beauty in classical education, and that’s definitely right where we’re at with the company I’m with: looking at the truth, seeing the goodness, and then showing it off in the beauty.”
Through the training in memorization that she received through classical education, Lezlie also developed her ability to learn choreography quickly.
“Being a dancer, you’re having to pick up combinations in two seconds . . . it’s very fast-paced,” she said. “Having that training growing up with classical education definitely helped me. I’m definitely very strong in that area, and that’s definitely helped me in my career, being a person that they can rely on to know what I’m doing because I can pick up things pretty quickly.”
Lezlie cited a quote by Makoto Fujimura, whose “Four Holy Gospels” paintings are the basis for a new ballet by Ballet 5:8, in explaining how she views the act of creativity through dance. Fujimura said, “Love is the ultimate fruit of the Spirit, and our total dependence on the true source of creativity will nurture love. Art ultimately is an expression of that love. Therefore, we cannot create but by sacrificial love. We need to redefine art and its effectiveness by how it helps us to love one another sacrificially.”
“I feel that very strongly internally: we are loved by God, and we can share in our creativity because he first created us,” Lezlie said.
Lezlie encourages families to consider classical Christian education for their children because of the way it prepares students to see God revealed in all pursuits.
“Classical education is a beautiful way to educate your children, and as someone who didn’t take the traditional route of going to college afterwards, I can see the benefits still in the classical education,” Lezlie said. “I think the thing that hits home the most for me in classical education is learning how to see Christ in all things. Whether you’re taking a science class, whether you’re taking music class, whether you’re taking a gym class, we’re all a body of Christ together working towards one goal and one mission.”
You can watch Lezlie dance with Ballet 5:8 in a livestream performance of “Reckless” on April 9 at 8 p.m.
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