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Kids can be indecisive — most change career choices as quickly as they change TV channels — although there is always the exception. Before Alicia Pescatore blew out the candles on her 3rd birthday cake, she had made up her mind: She wanted to dance.
Maybe it was the pink, picturesque world of a ballerina that grabbed her. Or perhaps her grandfather’s cousin, Angela Corsonita, opening a dance studio — the now-shuttered Children’s Ballet Theater at Ritner and Alder streets — that had something to do with it. All Pescatore, formerly of 30th and McKean streets, can say about her early intuition is she just knew.
"When I started to have an interest in dance, [my cousin’s studio] wasn’t open yet. I made my grandfather take me by it all the time, just to show me it [wasn’t] open yet," she said.
Sixteen years later and having made thousands of life choices, dance is still the 19-year-old’s first love. With an already-impressive training resume, the footsteps of the Rider University sophomore now are figuratively landing in Africa.
For the second time in six months, the resident of 20th Street and Pattison Avenue has participated in Dances for Africa at the Lawrenceville, N.J., college, where she’s double-majoring in elementary education and dance.
Held last October and March 7 to 9, the two-hour Dances for Africa teaches about and raises funds for the Oncata Rongai Christian Women’s Work of Charity Orphanage in Kenya. Kristin Scott, a professional dancer with the American Repertory Ballet at Princeton University where Rider dance students rehearse and take classes, visited the site last summer. She was so touched by the children who had lost parents to AIDS, she returned to the States with resolve. By joining with Rider’s dance ensemble — of which Pescatore is a member — Scott created an event with hopes of raising money to build a $33,733 well for the 170 orphans. Like many developing countries, water is hard to come by and what’s available is expensive with a monthly charge for access. There also is the concern of contamination, especially for the poor who gather rain water or go to burst pipes and dirty rivers for their supply. The orphanage’s staff has gotten water for the children these ways, but Scott, Pescatore and the other performers in Dances for Africa feel they deserve more.
"It just made me feel better about myself because I was dancing for a good cause. Even if [Dances for Africa] doesn’t make enough for the entire well, it will do something," Pescatore said of contributions to the total cost.
In a world of dance styles, ballet is Pescatore’s passion. She took classes from her cousin and other instructors and attributes her success to her local early training and performances.
"I don’t exactly remember my first dance class," Pescatore said of when she started pirouetting at age 3. "But [my cousin’s studio] had ‘The Nutcracker’ every year at the Merriam Theatre. I remember being an angel; that was the first part you could have in ‘The Nutcracker.’ I was 5 years old."
Over the next several years, Pescatore would explore jazz, tap, lyrical, modern and hip-hop. Though her cousin’s studios closed more than five years ago when she opened the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School at Broad Street and Oregon Avenue, it remains the foundation of her Pescatore’s training.
In summer ’00, she accompanied her cousin and fellow dancers to New York City, where she auditioned and was accepted to the Joffrey Ballet summer program.
"While at Joffrey, I really learned what it was like to be in the professional dance world," she said. "Not only because I got to take class at a famous dance company, but because I was immersed in the entire lifestyle of a dancer. I lived in New York, took the subway every day to get there and then danced pretty much all day Monday through Friday."
Later that year, the then-seventh-grader landed the lead role of Clara in her studio’s performance of "The Nutcracker."
Shortly after, her after-school schedule got so packed she decided to cut back on the four days of dance and try acting at the Walnut Street Theater instead.
As Pescatore was balancing the art forms, she entered freshman year at Neumann-Goretti High School and found the perfect outlet in The Language of Dance. Pescatore took the arts class, where students were graded on participation and performance and took tests based on lectures, all four years.
"For the ballet part, I was not challenged," she said, adding she would find herself popping into pick-up classes at Center City’s Koresh Dance Company, just to keep up her training, especially since she was planning to pursue the art on a college level.
The Neumann-Goretti class had two performances a year. Aside from that, Pescatore stuck to outside work, including an ’05 summer program at University of the Arts.
Regardless of how often or where, Pescatore’s background proved enough for admission into Rider’s dance program. From her initial visit, she knew it was where she wanted to be — and the close-but-not-too-close proximity didn’t hurt, either.
"Now I definitely appreciate the fact that I’m only 45 minutes away. I can come home whenever I want, which I do," she said. "When I was in high school, I always thought I was going to go far away, like to Miami or New York, but I like the fact that I’m closer now."
Plus, there’s a certain comfort in the commotion of the city.
"When I go to school it feels so weird. It’s quieter, and the trees and the grass. It’s so different [than South Philly]. I’m so used to going to sleep with noise in the background, and walking outside and taking the subway. I don’t like having to drive 15 minutes to get somewhere. I like being able to walk somewhere if I need to," she said.
She hopes her double major will allow her to teach dance in an elementary school, similar to the program she took at Neumann-Goretti.
"I think it’s important to have kids exposed to art at a young age, more culture — they’ll be less narrow-minded. [With dance], you learn about different cultures. In my dance classes now, it’s not only ballet; I’ve done African and Latin dance. It helps to learn about people in other cultures," she said.
Which is exactly what Dances for Africa has done for her. In both performances, she auditioned along with other Rider students — both dance and non-dance majors — and was subject to rehearsals from 10 p.m. to midnight several times a week at Princeton studios, as well as on weekends. Last fall, about 30 people performed, while this month’s show had about 50 dancers. The first show depicted scenes of New York City life through various dance styles. The March show was centered on Africa, with some of the culture’s dances performed and a video of Scott talking about her experience at the orphanage.
In the first show, Pescatore was in eight numbers. This time, she performed in two. One, which happened to be a waltz, had a special tie to Africa
"In one of the pieces I was in, we all wore prom dresses. My adviser asked people she knew to donate formalwear they no longer wear, and we wore them in the piece. They’re going to be sent over to Africa, to a nearby village [of the orphanage] where a woman who owns a shop has agreed to rent the dresses out, and whatever money she makes, she’s going to send to the orphanage as a steady source of income," she said.
Pescatore said she was aware of the issues countries like Kenya face, but participating in Dances for Africa made the situations real, as she listened to Scott’s account of her volunteer work at the orphanage and what she found through her own research.
"I knew there was a lot of disease and poverty in Africa," she said, "but this definitely let me see what the true problems are. It helped me become more culturally aware."
At the March event at Rider’s Fine Arts Center, Dances for Africa raised more than $4,000 (admission was $10 for the general public and $5 for students). Pescatore wasn’t sure of the proceeds from the fall show, but she does know the funds are going to help children in need by preventing diseases like malaria and typhoid that are caused by contaminated water, lessening the financial burden on the orphanage and improving life overall, which she said is the most fulfilling part. "I loved being in performances," she said, "and to perform for a reason, dancing for a greater cause — to help someone else."
To contact staff writer Caitlin Meals, e-mail cmeals@southphillyreview.com or call ext. 117.
