Crystal Huang, 15, Prix de Lausanne Prize Winner 2024: “The Love for Dance Comes First!”

Crystal Huang, Prize Winner at the Prix de Lausanne 2024. Awards ceremony. © Gregory Batardon / Prix de Lausanne 2024

Crystal Huang, 15, is having a remarkable year. Until about two years ago, Crystal was training in commercial dancing. Commercial dancers take classes in hip hop, tap, jazz, contemporary, ballet, musical theater and ballroom dancing to prepare for a career in the entertainment industry. At her commercial studio, Crystal also took ballet classes every day, supplemented by one or two ballet classes every week based on the Vaganova method of ballet training.

About two years ago, Crystal realized that ballet was her main passion. She had been studying different dance disciplines at The Rock Center for Dance in Las Vegas, but in 2023, she also enrolled at Bayer Ballet Academy to solidify her classical training. Bayer Ballet Academy was founded in 2005 by ballet pedagogue Inna Bayer, a master teacher of the Vaganova method of classical ballet training used at St. Petersburg’s Vaganova Academy and at Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Bayer Ballet Academy has an impressive record, its students are excelling at competitions and have been accepted into prestigious training programs and companies all over the world. Bayer Ballet was named “Outstanding School” by Youth America Grand Prix for six consecutive years (2018-2024).

In February 2024, one year after winning two of the most important American commercial dance conventions, Crystal became a prize winner at the Prix de Lausanne 2024, one of the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world. Every year, about eighty young dancers from all over the world are selected to compete in Lausanne, Switzerland, for one of the nine coveted scholarships that are awarded to the nine prize winners. Crystal also got the female contemporary dance award at the Prix de Lausanne. Since then, she also won second place in the senior age division at the 2024 Youth America Grand Prix finals in New York and was awarded the Grand Prix at the 2024 South Africa International Ballet Competition. TWoA talked to Crystal about her unusual dance journey, gathering some valuable tips on how to succeed at competitions.

When did you start dancing?

I started dancing when I was three years old. I grew up at a commercial studio doing all different types of styles. Of course, my first class was ballet, but I did all sorts of styles, and I still do all sorts of styles. When I was nine, my grandpa had cancer. We had to move to Las Vegas to be closer to him so my mom could take him every day to Los Angeles to get chemotherapy. I trained there for a long time. It was maybe two years ago that I decided I really like ballet. At the end of that year, I decided I wanted to go to Bayer Ballet and fully train in ballet many hours every day, and really stick with a great group of classmates and a great teacher, Ms. Inna Bayer. This year, we worked really hard, we prepared for all sorts of competitions, working on a lot of details.

What was the biggest challenge for you when you switched from regular ballet classes to a pure Vaganova style ballet training? The Vaganova method is very specific in terms of coordinating all the different parts of the body and in its use of the upper body.

I really enjoyed doing a Vaganova barre every day. I felt it helped me become a better dancer. It helped me get ready, get better for my variation. Training in the Vaganova method this year definitely helped my upper body and arm movements. It made me look more like a ballerina, more professional and not like a student. Of course, I'm not a professional! I'm still a student - but it helps. It helps me look more mature, more smooth and more presentable.

Did you continue doing commercial dancing during that year?

I did. The year before, I won two of the bigger national commercial conventions in the US, so my commitment this year was to assist and perform as much as I could on the weekends at different commercial conventions. So, on the weekends, I did all sorts of styles. It was hard to come back every weekend, but I think it helps me become more versatile. It's also really fun. I'm pretty sure it'll help me in the future when I'll have to be changing between different kinds of styles or different teaching methods.

You are an amazing turner. Any tips for those who are not natural turners?

Two or three years ago, I did a turn and one of my teachers asked me to do it with my phone – like this (Crystal holds her phone between her two hands in front of her). It helps me. I think the biggest problem for most dancers unable to do many terms is being scared of going around since turning can be scary. Before I got more consistent in turning multiple times, I fell a lot. And that's okay! I just kept doing it. It took me a lot of tries to start perfecting. Turning is different for everyone because everyone's body is different. Balance is different and turning is just balance, basically. I think for me, I was just practicing a lot. I was just really determined to get good turns, because I really liked watching anyone who could turn a lot. It just inspired me a lot. I basically just practiced a lot!

What is your favorite part of ballet class?

My favorite part of ballet class is barre. It's the basics, it helps to keep anyone in shape. I love how barre progresses; it helps your body stay warm and to become better.

I also like the different kinds of characters you can play in ballet. I think that's really cool, going, for example, from Esmeralda to Gulnara, I think they are very different characters. I like working on them both because it shows a different side of me. It also helps me improve in different places. Gulnara is more classical, and Esmeralda is more virtuoso. It's just fun playing between different variations, different characters. In Bayer Ballet’s Snow Queen, I got to dance the Snow Queen, which is a colder, more evil character and I also got to dance the butterflies and a princess, parts which are more fun and happier. That was a really good experience, getting to dance a full-length ballet with different roles on different days. That's cool.

Does it make a difference whether you are performing for a jury at a competition or for a regular audience?

I feel different when I'm performing at a competition, even though my moto is to always make it look like a performance. The dancing shouldn’t be like a technically perfect robot. I want the judges to feel something when I dance, and to really understand my dancing and my variation or my contemporary solo. But, yes, it's different when you're performing for judges, because you're getting a score. I really try to have an equal balance of technical perfection for a competition, and amazing artistry and performance. I think it's important to have a balance between being classically perfect and being very artistic and expressive and making the audience feel something when you dance.

What do you think are important elements that contribute to success at competitions?

When I go to competitions, my goal is to show how much I love dance, and how important that is. For a good dancer, the first thing you must have is the love of dance. And of course, working really hard and very consistently, and having a good teacher to guide you, good parents to support you. I wouldn't be able to do any of this without the support of my parents. A lot of aspects come into creating a dancer, I think.

How do you keep calm during competitions?

It is very hard! It was especially hard to keep calm at the Prix de Lausanne because there are so many cameras, and everyone is watching. But just knowing that I worked so hard - and that I had nothing to lose - helped. Drinking lots of water, taking deep breaths. Just showing what I know, my love for dance, and hoping to inspire as many people as I can.

Crystal Huang, Prix de Lausanne 2024, classical variation (Le Corsaire, Gulnara, Act III)

Do you have any special routines you follow during a competition to keep you calm or inspired?

The night before, I try to have good carbs since I think carbs will help you perform better the next day. I heard from a lot of amazing athletes, especially runners, that they eat pasta or just good carbs the night before a race. Before I perform, doing a barre and listening to the music really helps me. Ms. Inna gave me very good advice: before I go on stage, I stand in first position on rélevé, listen to my music and just stay calm and visualize. That really helps. About warm up: don’t over warm up! I've learned that. Do not overwork yourself. That's sometimes a problem, because I just keep practicing and keep working so I overwork myself. Aim for the perfect balance between “warm and ready,” and full of energy to go on stage.

Did you ever have a competition that didn't go like you wanted it to go?

Almost every competition I've gone to, there's always an aspect where I feel I didn't do my best. It's just natural, and part of life, that not everything is going to be perfect. But I use everything that didn't go as well to help motivate me to get better for the next time. I don't think of a competition as the end goal, I think of it as a steppingstone to help me get better.

Pretty much every competition I've gone to, something has gone wrong, and I wasn’t happy about it. But I think it's life and I enjoy it. It's this fact that makes the good performances even more enjoyable. At the Prix de Lausanne, on the day of the first round, I had a really bad nosebleed in the morning, so I didn't do the warmup class, I was sitting on the side with my bloody nose. They told me: you can go in the second group. But I didn't want to do that because I wanted it to stay fair. I didn't want other people to think: ‘Oh, she got an advantage because she got a break in between the class.’ First Group A does class and then performs and then Group B does class and performs. I just wanted it to be the same. I was really dizzy, because I had lost a lot of blood. So, I didn't do my best for classical. Also, I had pain in my pinky toe. I really didn't do my best. After the classical variation, I wasn't the happiest. I was a little sad.

But I used that to help me with the contemporary variation, because next was contemporary. The contemporary variation was sad, and my performance was coming from a real place because I was actually sad. I think my sadness helped me portray the character of the contemporary and do my contemporary better. I used something that didn't go as well to help me do better and motivate me to do better. That's just a little example.

Crystal Huang, Prix de Lausanne 2024, contemporary variation (Aleisha Walker, "Do You Care?")

Crystal Huang, Prix de Lausanne 2024. Contemporary Variation. © Gregory Batardon / Prix de Lausanne 2024

What was your scariest competition moment?

YAGP finals in New York this year, because the week before, I had really bad nerve damage in my pinky toe on my standing foot, my turning foot. The week before, I didn't really dance much. I was in and out of acupuncture and doctor appointments. Even at the New York finals, I couldn't really dance. That was a little scary for me because I didn’t know what was going to happen. I wasn't able to practice as much as I wanted to. Luckily, the dad of a student from Bayer Ballet is an amazing acupuncturist. He helped me stop the pain while I was dancing. I wouldn't have been able to dance if it weren't for him because just going on point hurt so much. And walking! It was super painful. But we were smart about it. We didn't want to overwork my toe, and he was there, which helped so much. He helped me every single day. It was a hard injury to have because being on pointe is my instrument. If it's painful to go on pointe and roll down, it's bad. Having that during YAGP finals was tough. Thank God for everyone around me who supported me through it.

What was your most memorable competition moment so far?

This past year with the Prix de Lausanne and YAGP finals. The Prix de Lausanne was super memorable, because it was very different from anything I've ever done before - the way the competition was organized and how it was graded. Class was fifty percent of our overall grade. In total, contemporary, was also 50%. Contemporary class counted for twenty-five percent of the grade, ballet class counted twenty-five percent, the contemporary solo counted twenty-five percent, and the classical solo counted twenty-five percent. That was the most memorable because it was super different. It was just a very good experience, also because it was only a select group of dancers from all over the world. It was cool seeing so many amazing dancers from different places. We were all going through the same pressure. We all tried to support each other as much as we could. That was a very memorable experience.

YAGP finals were also memorable because I was going through so much pain. But we managed to do it, and it turned out really well. We were nervous and scared; we didn’t know what was going to happen. That was a memorable experience, overcoming all the bad things behind the scenes. We didn't tell anyone because I didn't want anyone to feel bad for me. No one knew about my pain. The experience taught me to overcome extreme obstacles. Onstage the pain really goes away. Maybe the adrenaline kicks in - the pain just goes away. And I just love dancing. But when I go off stage, it started hurting a lot again.

After the summer, you will be moving to New York because you will be using your Prix de Lausanne scholarship to attend American Ballet Theatre’s (ABT) Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. Will you move to New York on your own?

I'm pretty sure I'm going alone. My mom might rent an apartment and stay with me sometimes. For the most part, I'll be alone with some other ABT kids in the dorms. I'll have one roommate. It'll be a very different life, being by myself in New York. I'm excited to be in New York and to be one step closer to my dream of becoming a professional dancer, a principal dancer. Since this is the road I would have to take, it's exciting that I'm one step closer now.

But it all came unexpectedly and quickly. When I went to the Prix de Lausanne, initially, I didn't think I was going to do as well as I did. I didn’t anticipate that I might end up moving to a different city. Basically, if you're one of the nine prize winners at the Prix de Lausanne, the prize is a scholarship to support you to go to any Prix de Lausanne partner school you like. I didn’t expect to do so well so I didn't think I would have to decide to move away right away. We picked ABT for many reasons and I hope it's going to work out great.

How have you been balancing your dancing with your schoolwork?

I went to primary school until I was nine years old. When I was nine years old, I started traveling every weekend to different states in the US to tour with the dance convention. And once I started doing that, I would leave on Friday, or sometimes Thursday, and get back on Monday. For a year, I would go to school two days in person, the rest was home school. Then my dancing got even more, so I had to home school or online school. I've been doing online school ever since I was 10 years old. Every couple of years, I change different online schools. But I think school is very important. I love doing school. It's always an option for me if dance doesn't work out, which I hope it does. But I can also get a degree while dancing. Many dancers get an online degree. Surprisingly, to many people, I love to do school. I do school as much as I can. Of course, I can’t do as much school as normal kids because I dance a lot. Most of my time goes to dancing, eating, sleeping, and the remaining goes to school. But I always try to do as much school as I can. I love academics.

You don’t have a lot of free time – but in the free time you have, what do you like to do?

I like to go swimming. I like to go in the hot jacuzzi with my dad. I like to make origami, cook, stretch. I love stretching. I stretch while I do homework. I love going on vacations with my family, which is very rare! When I get the chance to, I love spending time with my family, even if it's very short, just half a day or just going out with my family and going eating.

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