As owner and artistic director of Portage’s Civic Dance Center, Natalie Kolosci, this week’s Portage Life in the Spotlight, uses her experience and knowledge of ballet to bring her passion of dance to her students and the community.
Kolosci got her start in dance as many children do in their activities: her mother saw a natural ability for it.
“I was a typical little girl, just dancing around the house, and my mother said, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to get her into a dance class,” Kolosci said.
When she was first enrolled in classes at five years old, Kolosci knew that she always wanted to have ballet in her life. It was her passion, even when she participated in tap, jazz and Spanish folk dancing; baton twirling and gymnastics.
“I even took piano and voice [lessons], but I always came back to ballet,” Kolosci said.
Although she focused on dance, Kolosci was skilled in all her other activities as well, with a Grand National Championship title in baton strutting and four state gymnastics titles during her high school career.
She kept up with ballet through all of it. At the age of 10, she was taking the train to Chicago six days a week in order to get to her many classes. According to Kolosci, her school teachers were immensely helpful with accommodating to her schedule, even letting her double up on homework during the week so that she could leave school early for rehearsals.
“There’s no sport like ballet,” Kolosci said. “You’re in your own world when you’re dancing onstage. You’re dancing with your emotions and your arms and your technical ability.”
All the hard work she put in gave her opportunities many dancers only dream of. For seven years, Kolosci danced with renowned Russian ballet companies Bolshoi and Kirov during their American tours. She also danced with the Joffrey ballet schools, both in New York and Chicago.
When the whirlwind of touring began to die down, Kolosci began teaching dance in the basement of her house when she was 21 years old. She used a renovated church as her studio, taught in Lakes of the Four Seasons and one year took her students touring in France and England. She opened her current studio of Civic Dance Center about eight years ago.
Dancers often retire very young, and teaching provided Kolosci with a chance to continue her passion.
“It’s your love, it’s in your heart and it’s something you can’t live without,” Kolosci said.
Kolosci, a stern teacher, credits her methods to her ballet teacher Mr. Ellis, who she considers to have been a strong mentor during her dance career.
“He was so strict; I was so afraid of him,” Kolosci admitted. “However, everything that I learned from him stuck so much in my heart. That’s why I think sometimes I am the way that I am [with my strict teaching style].”
According to Kolosci, many of her students throughout the years feel the same fright that she did with Mr. Ellis. She knows, however, that her method is one of tough love.
“[Some students are] just afraid at first, but they know that the reason I do this is to make them a better dancer, a better person, to have better roles, a better company,” she said.
Part of the job of being a dance instructor is watching students grow up and seeing some go on to also dedicate their lives to the art. Many of her students have studied dance in college and opened their own studios.
She even taught the current artistic director of the Oklahoma City Ballet.
“To me, that’s the biggest accomplishment, from when he was 16 studying with me and here he is, 40, and director of the company,” Kolosci said. “I’m pretty proud of that.”
Right now, Kolosci is focusing on the upcoming production of her annual Nutcracker.
Kolosci first helped teach her first Nutcracker over 20 years ago.
When she was young, she used to audition for the same production of the ballet every year, and each year she grew as a dancer and obtained larger roles. Now, she sees that happening with her own students.
“It’s exciting for me now, with my students,” Kolosci said. “I mean, they started out as a little soldier or a little mouse, and then they went into the party scene, and then they went into flowers, [all progressively more difficult roles], and they have principle roles now. A couple of the students are coming back as guest artists because they’re studying dance in college. That’s thrilling to me, I’m excited about that.”
To her, the Nutcracker is “a Christmas present.” The music is played in shopping centers during the holiday season, and even non dancers know the story and tradition behind it.
“I have two boys – never studied dance – but they’ve seen this so many times with [me] that they could tell me the piece of music that’s playing and who’s supposed to be dancing to it,” Kolosci laughed.
Although many people often ask Kolosci if she tires of teaching the same ballet every year, the challenge of new dancers in different roles and altering the choreography to fit those dancers keeps the ballet feeling new.
“As many years as I have been doing this, there’s nothing that could replace the feeling of when I see my students dancing onstage for the final performance,” Kolosci said.
The Nutcracker will be performed on Saturday, Dec. 21 in Portage High School’s East Auditorium at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for children at the door, or at a discounted rate at https://web.tututix.com/tickets/ under Civic Dance Center.