Meet the Artist: Dancer Lydia McRae

Many people don't associate ballet with hip-hop, but this Kernersville ballerina wishes she could do both. WFDD Radio Camper Libby Philion had a chance to sit down and talk with aspiring dancer Lydia McRae.

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When I first saw Lydia McRae in the lobby of the cultural arts center, I could tell immediately by her physique that she was the dancer I was looking for. Lydia started by talking to me about her early beginnings. She remembers begging her mom to let her take dance, and eventually got signed up for a free ballet program at the North Carolina School of the Arts at the age of eight.

“Dancing was something that was just always in my soul”, she says. She then went on to the NCSA School of Dance where she met teacher Kee Juan Han whom she credits for most of her knowledge today. 

I pretty much got all of my technique from him and there were times that he could be ruthless, and he was mean, but he really instilled a good work ethic. He always showed that even if your teacher is not pushing you, there are things that you can do to push yourself.

Lydia continues to push herself in terms of finding new ways to connect her dancing to the music.

You really have to listen to the beat of the music, and you have to find something within the music that you can connect to, because sometimes there will be a little note that you find a little bit more emotion than some of the other notes. It varies from piece to piece, because some pieces are more upbeat so you can have a little bit more fun with it, but piece that are a bit slower and a little bit more solemn, you can really come from a deeper more emotional place and even maybe take some of the disappointments in your life that you've had and transfer that to the stage.

Lydia plans to spend the next performing season performing with the Greensboro Ballet and teaching at Dance South Performing Arts.

For WFDD Radio Camp, I'm Libby Philion.