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Keyla Ermecheo is an international ballet star and
teacher from Venezuela who has trained generations of dancers since
1968. In September, she opened her first ballet school in the U.S. in
the Doral area.
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Keyla Ermecheo
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“People tell me I’m crazy to start my career all
over again, but after 32 years I needed a new challenge,” said
Ermacheo, founder of the Keyla Ermecheo Ballet Center at Kid’s
Village.. “I love ballet, I love children, and I love to watch them
grow up and grow into dance.
“When I was thinking about opening a ballet school in
South Florida, I spent months researching the perfect location. When I
found Kid’s Village daycare and Kindermusik and other programs right
next door, I knew I had found the right place,” she said.
Currently the artistic director of the Ballet
Metropolitano de Caracas and the vice president for South America of the
World Dance Alliance in New York City, Ermecheo is an award-winning
dancer and choreographer. She recently was presented with the Venezuelan
National Council of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award.
Her ballet education programs have received numerous
awards, including the Classical Dance National Award from the National
Council of the Arts, while her ballet school in Caracas was recognized
by Venezuela’s National Ministry of Culture as a “National School of
Ballet” — the first and only school to be so designated.
Her alumni include dancers, teachers and choreographers
for such renowned international companies as Alvin Ailey, National
Ballet of Caracas, Harlem Ballet, Cleveland Ballet, and many others.
However, while she provides formal ballet training, she
stresses that her classes are not only for career-oriented dancers.
“We teach much more than just movement,” she said.
“Ballet is the best way for a child to develop their total
coordination, musicality, sensibility and discipline. It is also a way
for them to discover and explore their own unique creativity and to
bring out their individual skills and talents. In other words, we teach
them to develop all their senses and learn to express themselves.”
Ermecheo’s pre-ballet classes are open to children —
girls and boys —as young as 4 years old, and the progression continues
all the way through a dancer’s development to the professional level.
Her school also offers classes in tap, jazz, hip-hop, Flamenco and belly
dancing.
“The reception from the community has been wonderful,
we had 40 students signed up for classes before we even opened,” said
Ermecheo, who encourages parents to participate by watching their
children rehearse.
One of Ermecheo’s goals is to begin preparing her
students to perform her award-winning full-production version of The
Nutcracker, beginning in 2001.
“This has become an annual tradition for us in
Caracas, but we will need this year in Miami to prepare our dancers.
This December, we’ll have a holiday production, then we’ll have a
full school production in May. Next year, I would like to combine the
dancers from my two schools, and Ballet Metropolitano de Caracas, into
one full international production of The Nutcracker here in Miami,”
said Ermecheo.
“It’s a dream, but a possible dream.”
Keyla Ermecheo Ballet Center at Kid’s Village is
located at 2520 NW 97 Ave., Suite 220. For more information, please call
305-866-7835.
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