December 2018: Student Profile, Sage Woods-Cooper

At only 10 years old, Woodbury fifth grader Sage Woods-Cooper is every bit the old soul her name implies. She’s reflective, a risk-taker and quite literally, she’s balanced: after school, she puts on her ballet slippers and works to improve her growing passion for classical ballet. In fact, this month, you can watch her perform in The Cleveland Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker at Playhouse Square, December 12-16 (you can buy tickets online). Learn more about Sage Woods-Cooper. 

Let’s talk school first. What do you like about Woodbury? 
I love that there’s something new every day and there are so many great subjects and teachers. 

What’s your favorite subject? 
Art. I like that you can express yourself. And I love all the colors. We’ve been working on scribble art—that’s where you close your eyes and scribble and then you try to make something out of what you’ve drawn. We used oil pastels to color in our drawings. I made mine into a flamingo. 
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How did you get started in dance?
Well, I was born into it. My mom is a ballet dancer and she teaches ballet, so I kind of started young. But when I was little, I was always really shy. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. Sometimes, people thought I wasn’t learning anything, but I was always listening.

Did dance help you to be less shy?
It did. I started dancing more and making new friends. And dance helped me to express myself, so I started talking a little more every day. 

We’ve heard that you perform in The Nutcracker. How many years have you been involved with the production? 
This will be my third year. This year, I’m a mouse, a flower and an angel. I get to be all three! And we have a couple of performances during the daytime on weekdays. 

Wow. So that means you get to miss school. How do you feel about that? Be honest.
[Giggling.] I feel pretty good about it. 

What other ballet experiences have you had?
Over the summer, all of my ballet friends wanted to go to intensive ballet schools. I chose the Dance Theater of Harlem in New York City. We danced eight hours a day. I had to get up and six and take the subway to the studio. That was fun. 

Did you have to audition for that program?
I did. My mom took me to Detroit to audition in the Detroit Opera House. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was practicing taking risks. I was pretty nervous about it because I knew that they only kept a couple of people. I had to wait a whole month before I found out whether I made it. That whole time, I tried doing as much ballet as I could. When I auditioned, I wasn’t that flexible, so I spent the month working on my flexibility. Then one day, my mom got an email while I was at school saying that I was accepted. When she told me that I got in, I screamed! I was so excited to go to New York. 

Why do you love dance so much?
Because I get to show my emotions and let out all the movement that’s inside me. And dancing just makes me happy.