Underground Allegro Dance Center shines at prestigious ballet competition

In River Forest last weekend, Underground Allegro Dance Center in Batavia competed against the area's top schools in the prestigious Youth America Grand Prix, the world's largest ballet competition and scholarship program.

The students' hard work and training was recognized in the form of top, overall awards.

Dancers Olivia Drumm and Brianna North both made an impression on the judges - Olivia walked away with first place overall in contemporary and third place overall in classical, while Brianna took home a Top 12 award in contemporary.

Resident choreographer Jessica Brewster was also acknowledged with a Choreography Award for her piece "Send in the Clowns," performed by Olivia Drumm.

The Youth America Grand Prix is widely recognized as the world's most prominent and esteemed ballet competition, and the Underground Allegro students train diligently to meet their high standards.

As a training studio for the serious dancer, students at Underground Allegro spend up to 20 hours a week in the studio perfecting their craft through rigorous ballet and contemporary technique classes, conditioning, and improvisation.

New to the area, but not new to the dance scene, Underground Allegro Dance Center was founded by Callie Marik in 2016 and has since garnered much praise in the dance community for its dedication to training a truly well-rounded and technically strong dancer.

"At Underground Allegro Dance Center, we train athletes and artists," Marik says. "We are a training space for the dancer who wishes to take their training to the next level. By addressing the art form from every angle, we have crafted a program that creates some of the area's most professional dancers."

To find out more about this award-winning program, visit www.undergroundallegro.com or check them out on Instagram @undergroundallegro.