Sarah Hayes Harkins
Sarah’s early training was in Asheville, NC, at the Asheville Center of Performing Arts, after which she attended North Carolina School of the Arts in the High School Program. She performed George Balanchine’s Serenade for the Tribute to Melissa Hayden, and at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. In 2005, she performed with Ballet Adriatico in Ascoli Piceno, Italy. Sarah attended summer intensives with Miami City Ballet and Charlotte Ballet. She has performed in seven world premieres by choreographer Dwight Rhoden, and has also performed in works by Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Jirí Bubenícek, Mark Diamond, David Ingram, Sasha Janes, Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe and Jiří Kylián. Some of her favorite roles include, Choleric in Balanchine’s Four Temperaments, Grand Pas Classique, Cinderella, Tinker Bell and the Grey Girl in Jiří Kylián’s Forgotten Land.
- Hometown: Waynesville, NC
- Dancing Since: Age 7
- Seasons with Charlotte Ballet: 11
- What “powers” you as a dancer? What gives you the motivation to work harder or inspires you to make the hard work look effortless? I talk a lot about “hunger”. I have hunger for new ballets and choreographers I have never worked with, I have hunger for new styles I’ve never tried, I have hunger to see how I will thrive in those environments. My hunger for the exploration of dance powers me.
- Favorite ballet: Walking Mad
- Biggest misconception about professional dancers: The hardest thing in ballet is to look effortless, when in fact that takes the most effort. We kind of create our own biggest misconception.
- Biggest pet peeve: Don’t come into a revolving door with me. I need my own wedge.
