For many dancers, being part of a competitive team is just a small part of a long dance journey. But the personal bonds created during games and meetings can last a lifetime. These three pairs of dancers who forged friendships during the competition show that having a proven teammate by your side can make a huge difference in the professional dance world.
Justin Pham, choreographer and dancer, Los Angeles, Chryssa Hadjis, freelance dancer, New York
In the fall of 2023, Haggis moved from California to New York City, the first time she and her former competition teammate Fan had been apart since they met as children in a dance program in Murrieta, California. The pair competed in nearly every category, including as a successful duet partner. While Van enrolled in the Gloria Kaufman School of Dance at the University of Southern California, Haggis soon joined.
“It’s fun to experience compensatory life together, and then college conservatory feels so different,” Haggis said. “It’s nice to have a friend there to share the ups and downs with.”
Haggis danced in many of Van’s choreographic projects, including one he performed at the Capezio ACE Awards. “You want to work with people you enjoy being around,” Fan said.
“You can take root in a way [our friendship] Back to competitive dance because that’s where we met,” Haggis said. “Or you could root it in dance as a whole, because through dance we experience life together.”
“We definitely grew up together,” Fan said. “We’re able to experience each other at all different stages of life, but in a way, we’re doing what we’ve always done.”
Kylie Dyson, Boston Ballet II; Marissa Mattingly, Color Contemporary Ballet
Dyson and Mattingly met on the Central Florida circuit and became close after Dyson joined a studio at the All American School of Classical Ballet in Tampa, where Mattingly attended. They competed as soloists and groups in the American Youth Ballet Grand Prix, the American International Ballet Competition and the World Ballet Competition, and performed duets. Swan Lake in their final playing season together.
Whenever they take a break from their rigorous schedule of classes and rehearsals, they study together in the café. “We try to do homework, but it usually ends in a conversation,” Mattingly said.
“It’s cool in retrospect that we talked about what companies we wanted to be a part of, and now when we talk about our days over FaceTime, we’re living the life we once dreamed of,” Dyson said.
Now, Dyson and Mattingly are at the beginning stages of their careers and are excited to have each other’s support. “We text all the time,” Dyson said. “Despite the distance, nothing has changed,” Mattingly added. “We have a super rapport.”
Courtney Conovan (Los Angeles dance classes) and Makaila Chiplin (professionally known as Chip), New York freelance dancers
Every year on their respective birthdays, Conovan and Chip post hilarious videos of each other competing on Instagram.
“It’s a perfect time capsule compared to what we dance now,” Chip said. As members of Rise Dance Company in Round Rock, Texas, “We’re just enjoying ourselves and having a good time.”
“Those memories [of that time] I don’t think it’s about competing on stage, or what pieces we do — it’s about the hotel room after each rehearsal, or the trips we take to the corner bakery between rehearsals,” Conovan said . “I think we live together, not dance together.”
The friends stayed in touch via text messages and FaceTime while Conovan went to Purchase College, and a year later, Chip enrolled in the University of the Arts. Now, as professionals, they say not much has changed.
“We have a very silly friendship,” Chip said. “We got together and it was like we were 11 years old and we went back to the hotel room after the game.”
