Who Wants to be a Dancer?

Datyon, Ohio – The Dayton Ballet asks the question.

Ballerina Daniela Bennetti knows – or better still, is – the answer.

Who wants to be a dancer? Growing up in Tampa, Florida, Bennetti was a high-energy child.

“When I was little, my parents were kind of curious to see how they could release some of my energy,” she said. “They signed me up for everything, all kinds of activities, but dance kind of stuck. My love for it grew as the steps got harder. There’s nothing like that rush you get from performing.”

Bennetti trained in Tampa before spending three years in Texas with Ballet Austin. Now in her second season with the Dayton Ballet’s Studio Company, she is in the four-person cast of Who Wants to be a Dancer? playing the Fitton Center’s Fitton Family Fridays series October 17.

“The Studio Company is a fairly new program for the Dayton Ballet,” she said. “This is just the second year for it. It’s the best of both worlds as a dancer. You still get the heavy training – we take classes every day – but you also get the freedom of company life.

“We get to travel around beyond just Dayton. You get the professional experience of dancing and you get the experience of teaching a lot of different places with a lot of different audiences and students.”

In WWTBAD, the dancers – a host and three contestants – teach in the context of a game show. They get the audience involved by demonstrating different elements of a dance class, asking quiz-show questions and sharing a basic ballet combo the audience will perform.

Bennetti has one piece of advice for the Fitton Family Fridays audience.

“Don’t be shy,” she said. “You can never give too much. Be ready. Be excited. Be brave. Just jump up and dance with us.

“The audience gives us energy. It’s fun for us as dancers to have them enjoy the performances. It’s fun for us as teachers to see them understand and appreciate what goes into the performance.”

Bennetti loves the interaction with the crowd and enjoys seeing youngsters who have the same fascination with dance she had growing up.

“I see a little bit of me in the kids we see at our shows,” she said. “I’m an adult now, but I hope I can be that person a child sees and thinks, ‘Maybe I can do that, too,’ and can encourage them and help them follow their dreams like I did with mine.”

Tickets for Who Wants to be a Dancer are $9 for Fitton Center members, $11 for non-members, and are available online right here, by phone at 513-863-8873, ext. 110 and in person at the Fitton Center box office.

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