Highlander Headlines

Regan Fleming Achieves Success the Nontraditional Way

Many people hear about students receiving sports scholarships or academic scholarships, but it is very rare to hear about students who are succeeding in non-traditional career paths. Regan Fleming was a 2017 graduate from Cambria Heights and she auditioned and was accepted into Butler University’s School of Dance. Butler’s dance program is one of the top five collegiate ballet programs in the nation. Regan is one talented graduate who went on to make her-self an honorable life-time career.

Through years of hard work and dedication Regan Fleming officially pursued the art of dance. I decided to personally interview Regan, and gain insight into her career. The first question I asked was if she knew she always wanted to be a dancer, if not when did she know? Regan said she did not always know she wanted to be a dancer. She started dancing at Charlene’s School of Dance when she was little, but later in middle school realized she wanted to focus more on ballet. Regan was able to train 6 days a week, 4-5 hours a night, thanks to her very supportive mom, who drove her to the Allegheny Ballet Company in Altoona. She also spent summers studying at Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet while in high school.

The moment Regan knew she loved dancing was when she performed as the Sugar Plum Fairy at the Mishler Theater her senior year of high school. She stated, “I loved every second of being on stage and performing that part, and it was hard to leave the stage at the end of those shows.” Even then, she wasn’t completely sure she wanted to pursue dancing professionally until she started applying and auditioning at different colleges. She then started auditioning for the best college programs in the country, and she was accepted into Butler University.

While completing her senior year of college, she also was doing photo shoots and videos to send to companies across the country. She was doing this to employ herself at a professional dance company. However, due to Covid-19, it was very difficult to travel and set up in person auditions. Most of the auditions were done over a Zoom call with 20-30 other dancers. She was able to travel to Phoenix to audition for Ballet Arizona, which she heavily enjoyed. She ended up accepting a contract with Fort Wayne Ballet and danced with them for a brief amount of time.

Coming from a small town in PA, being a professional dancer is not a common career choice, stated Regan. But having support and encouragement from family and friends has motivated Regan to pursue her dream. Her parents and sister have been her biggest supporters along with friends she made at Butler University. Another big influence on Regan was her dance teacher growing up, Connor Weigand. Regan stated he, “quite literally shaped me into the dancer that I turned out to be.”

Regan has learned that dance is extremely difficult, physically, mentality and emotionally. Because of this her greatest strengths are resilience and strong technique. She has always been a strong technician. Her experience has taught her to be strong in tough times even when her morale is low.

Her career in dance has shaped her into the person that she is today. Regan said, “It taught me discipline, self-motivation, respect for artistry and athleticism, and most of all: determination. I think that my life would look very different if I hadn’t pursued a career in dance. I would never have met some of my best friends and I would never have stepped out of my comfort zone to travel all over the country doing what I love.”

-Makenzie Rusnak