A Closer Look - Season 1 (Laura Rudnick)
Beautiful and breathtaking are two words that junior dance team member Laura Rudnick uses when she describes ballet.
Rudnick, a newcomer to USC Aiken, recently transferred from South Carolina back to her hometown school. However, she is not unfamiliar with the fine institution.
Rudnick’s grandmother, Irene, recently celebrated her 50th year of teaching at USC Aiken. Having attended Aiken H.S., Rudnick essentially grew up right down the road from USC Aiken.
Growing up, Rudnick participated in a wide variety of activities, including soccer, softball and swimming. However, it was dancing that had her hooked.
“When I came home from other activities and sports, my mother always saw me dancing,” Rudnick said. “I would be doing some funky move or dance in the den while listening to Brittany Spears or NSYNC. It was something I really liked to do.”
From the youthful age of three, Rudnick started dancing. Her mother, who danced in her youth for a short time, mentioned it to Rudnick and it has never left her side.
“When I was young, I was into Barney and all of the shows on TV that had dancing in them,” Rudnick said. “It really inspired me.”
Rudnick first started out, she took a tap class. She later added ballet to her repertoire before eventually adding jazz toward middle school. At the age of 14, she earned a spot in the Aiken Civic Ballet Company, which expects its dancers to have ballet training, along with jazz and modern dances.
“With the Aiken Civic Ballet Company, we went to a dance camp at the Columbia Conservatory and did a three-week intensive camp that included ballet, jazz, contemporary, modern and musical theatre for eight hours a day.”
The ACBC had performances during the spring and near Christmas. Rudnick was a part of several, including Korean Cinderella, Firebird and the Nutcracker.
In the Nutcracker production, Rudnick was cast as a Spanish dancer for two years. Rudnick continued to push herself as she eyed the lead role of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
“We had a try-out for the lead role prior to my senior year of high school,” Rudnick stated. “We had to perform the Sugar Plum Variation (solo) in front of a judge who was a dance instructor at the Columbia Conservatory. The judge previously danced for the New York City Ballet.
“Through a process of elimination, I landed the lead role. After seeing others take the lead role in my previous two years, I told myself that I wanted to land the lead role, which meant I had to work relentlessly in order to reach my goal.”
The role was very demanding as she did a pas de deux in addition to a solo routine.
“It was very demanding,” Rudnick said. “You work extremely hard and use every muscle in your body while trying to make everything perfect. You have to do all this while keeping your face gentle and look like you aren’t in pain, but are having the time of your life.”
Despite her outstanding performance and ability, Rudnick chose to head to South Carolina for college while giving up her passion for dancing.
After enrolling at South Carolina, Rudnick found herself starting to miss dance and found a studio near the campus that she could take classes from. When she decided to transfer to USC Aiken for the nursing program, a friend suggested she should try out for the dance team.
Rudnick not only tried out, but flourished en route to earning a spot on the team.
“I want to improve my turns,” Rudnick said. “I want to perfect my second turns and be sharper with jazz while becoming a stronger dancer in general.”
Although it is not ballet, fans will be enamored when they see how graceful Rudnick is on the court for the USC Aiken Dance Team.
