By: Jessica Cox, editor
10/14/2004

Athletic ability provides student with ballet talent

After an exhausting three hours of twirling, spinning and jumping, he takes off his ballet slippers, places them in his gym bag and prepares for his next physically strenuous activity.

Baseball.

Tony Pasquariello, a sophomore at Friends University, expresses himself artistically both on the ballet stage and the baseball field. 

Pasquariello will be a feature performer in the fall ballet “Firebird.”  He will perform in the “Firebird” piece and will be the main performer in the “Batirol” piece.     

“Ballet is not just tights and tutus,” Pasquariello said.  “It’s being able to express yourself through movement and music.”  

However, a year ago Pasquariello did not have such an open opinion about this form of artistic expression often underappreciated for its physical demands on its dancers. 

Pasquariello had never been to a ballet performance nor cared to, until a friend involved in the ballet told him he had the perfect physical look for ballet.  Since Pasquariello is involved in athletics, he works out and has good upper body strength. 

Pasquariello decided that he would go to a rehearsal and see what ballet was “all about.”

Although the first few roles he had were small, in “The Nutcracker” and Spring Ballet last year, Pasquariello found a deep appreciation for ballet and its skill. 

Pasquariello has only officially been a ballet dancer for four months.

“I think he realized how hard it is and how rewarding it is to work on something every day and have the final project turn out perfect,” said Victoria Spangler, a ballet dancer who convinced him to join the ballet program. 

As a child growing up in Aurora, Colo., Pasquariello always dreamed of playing professional baseball. 

“Baseball is the reason I came to Kansas in the first place,” he said. 

Although he has baseball in his blood, Pasquariello has his newfound passion for ballet close behind.  Pasquariello wants to continue doing both activities for the fear of regretting giving one up. 
   
“I have been playing baseball for a long time,” he said.  “I love playing it and I want to try and play it for as long as I can, but I do see a brighter future in ballet.”

With three years left at Friends, Pasquariello hopes to perfect his ballet skills and improve his batting average.