10 Questions With: Madeleine Scott

I participated in and enjoyed all sports growing up in the small town of Beresford. My mom put me in ballet class when I was 3. At that young age, it really isn’t ballet training, but it is a good place to learn how to listen, follow directions and learn some ballet terminology. I continued to take a class once or twice a week, and at 8 years old, I joined a competition dance team and wanted to improve my skills. My mom told me that I needed a lot more actual ballet training because I was not getting trained in proper technique so was not improving much. She enrolled me in a weeklong ballet camp held at Ballaraena Dance Studio, and I was hooked! After my first day, I came home and told my mom I wanted to be a professional ballerina. Mom researched local ballet studios and enrolled me at Dance Gallery in downtown Sioux Falls. I began taking several hours of dance a week, and my mom sent in videos of me to audition for intensives — intense dance camps — at some of the most famous dance schools in the country. I was lucky enough to receive a spot at American Ballet Theatre in NYC in the summer when I turned 10. After that, I received scholarships at the Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, The School of American Ballet for New York City Ballet, Chautauqua Institute Dance Program, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Sarasota Ballet, Ballet West and others.  Without those scholarships and opportunities, I would not have become a professional dancer and South Dakota Ballet may never have come to be. Some of the dancers that have danced with South Dakota Ballet were dancers that I met during my early years.

I would absolutely do it all over again! From the people I have met to the places I have visited, the experiences that the art form of ballet have gifted me over the years have been irreplaceable. But I do hope that South Dakota Ballet’s work can provide young South Dakota dancers with the high-level experiences that will allow them to stay living in South Dakota instead of having to move away to train. Once we have a full-time company, performing year round, I believe this will happen. Our professional artists love to share their knowledge.

Yes, my grandfather was diagnosed with terminal cancer in March of 2018, and we lost him in November of 2018. I returned from Sacramento in April and chose to sit out of the winter season with Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet’s “Nutcracker” to be with him and my family during that difficult time. When I first returned to Sioux Falls, I was not performing, and it was during that time that I began to get involved in the Sioux Falls arts community. It seemed that we had a great deal of talent but that there were few collaborations happening between organizations. Since the COVID pandemic, I have seen greater collaboration amongst organizations across the region.

I co-founded Headlights Theatre with Madison Elliott the summer of 2020, during a time when it was not safe to bring together live dance and theater in a traditional setting. We started Headlights Theatre with the intention of bringing together a variety of artistic mediums to build accessible experiences with art.

When I returned to South Dakota, having worked as a professional dancer, I found out quickly that there was a big misperception about what it meant to be a “professional dancer;” many people do not understand the sacrifice and training it takes to actually earn full-time employment as a dancer. This career is not a hobby undertaking. I saw a need to bring actual professional dancers to our South Dakota audience so that they could experience the beauty and athleticism that only this quality of dance performance can provide. I asked myself the age-old questions: If not me, then who?  And if not now, then when? I was in a unique position to undertake this project because I was still dancing professionally and, therefore, had contacts in the dance industry with the ability to hire professional dancers and choreographers that I knew very well and I had worked with at various dance companies.

I do believe that South Dakota is still learning what professional dance looks like and how it differs from recreational student dancers performing in their annual local recitals. Many South Dakotans are well traveled and are arts enthusiasts. They have seen professional ballet, and they want it to be accessible locally. We recently performed in Rapid City to rave reviews and a packed house that gave us a standing ovation. Sioux Falls has also been very receptive and supportive.

There is still a great deal of confusion about what a professional dance company is. Our dancers are professional dancers that dance all day long for their living. It has been so rewarding to educate our audience members across the state. We have been pleasantly surprised by the kind words I have received from parents of participants in our training intensives available to the youth of our region and also the professional dancers that have come. They love South Dakota, and most had never visited our beautiful state before.

 “Invisible Threads” has been a massive undertaking for our organization. This performance features a live orchestra, five world premieres, an elaborate set design and new custom wardrobe. Our goals for our 2022 season were to add a two-week tour to Rapid City and to use a live orchestra. We have achieved these two milestones! “Invisible Threads” is a compilation of extraordinarily powerful pieces that were created from a wealth of artistic expression. There is no other place in the country presenting works of this type and performances of this style. We are pushing the boundaries, and we are proud to do so.

It absolutely does show how dance is maturing in Sioux Falls and that the South Dakota audience is open to new things!  These new ideas help advance the arts, but without the interest in dance, founded by local studios, this could not happen.

We host a two-week dance intensive in each city that we visit. Young dancers audition for a place in this intensive and, if selected, are trained for two weeks by the world-class artists that are performing in the South Dakota Ballet Company. This type of experience is not offered by anyone else in the state. These dancers then dance the opening piece in our performance, alongside the professionals. This is rarely offered at any dance intensive, anywhere in the world.

Our most advanced local recreational dancers are given the chance to be apprentices or trainees with the company during our residency. This allows them the chance to take daily company class alongside the professionals and interact with the professionals. This is invaluable as it allows them to see professional dancers up close and witness the extremely high level of talent and dedication that a professional dance career demands. They also get to see how quickly professionals must learn new works. It is far beyond what recreational dancers are doing when they prepare for a local performance. With this new knowledge, they can make the changes in their own training and practices that will allow them to advance.

We plan to have a six-week season next year which will include a performance in another city, hopefully Aberdeen, as well as performances in Rapid City and Sioux Falls. We have added live music from the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra for part of our show in Sioux Falls this year and hope to have live music for all of our performances next year. We would also like to invite underserved members of our community, including local children, to our dress rehearsals next year so that everyone can attend, even if a ticket is beyond their financial means.

I dance for Dance Aspen and live in Aspen, Colorado, in the winter. My favorite hobby is snowboarding with my fiance Seamus O’Malley and friends. I also love to hike. And although it is still considered work, I love to choreograph.

My shameless plug would be for the SculptureWalk!  The entries are so well done.  It is such a unique asset for the Sioux Falls community.  I am sending the photos as well.