Whiz Kid: Alice Fischetti, a Ballerina

Name: Alice Fischetti

Age: 18

School: , Class of 2011

Accomplishment: The future geneticist graduated with honors, awards, and a catalog of dance credits. 

Key to Awesomeness: 

For Alice Fischetti, dance is the mode of communication without words. Her expressions through ballet have been showcased locally as well on stages in New York City and California.

Local ballet patrons have watched Fischetti develop as a precocious classical ballerina of the Westchester Ballet Center for the Performing Arts. Her highlight performances at the dance school include the The Dying Swan and Kitris‘s Variation from Don Quixote.

In the professional dance company Dances Patrelle’s production of The Yorkville Nutcracker, Fischetti was Dewdrop. Among her many roles in Manhattan Youth Ballet’s The Nutcracker were Spanish Performer and Marzipan. Fischetti’s body movements spoke for dance as a healthy alternate choice of elation at performances by Dance Against Drugs (an organization that supports charities).

"When I hear classical music, my mind immediately starts choreographing some sort of dance," Fischetti said. "Simply stated, dancing is who I am."

Her training reflected the dancer's identity and commitment. After her freshman year at Lakeland High School, Fischetti started her daily routine of train rides to Manhattan for two or three classes of ballet, pointe, and other forms of dance (modern, pilates, or character), each lasting up to two hours.

Fischetti also trained rigorously with Westchester Ballet Center and at summer programs of American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, and Boston Ballet.

When not at dance studios, Fischetti has been active as the historian of the LHS chapter of Future Business Leaders of America and received first place award in Business Ethics competition at New York State FBLA Leadership Conference. The National Honor Society student is also the recipient of Circolo Da Vinci and Christopher Columbus Scholarships.

Will she be able to continue balancing dance and academics at college?

“I knew from the start I wanted to go to NYU,” Fischetti said. “New York City offers a world of opportunity for dancers. I thought it would be easy to continue dance in a city where there are studios minutes from my classes.”

A severe ankle injury during her junior year, that kept her off her dancing feet for eight months, led to the aspiring professional dancer’s realization that her career could be derailed in seconds because of a simple fall or trip. Meanwhile, Fischetti discovered a new passion for the study of genetics through her AP Biology class.  

Fischetti plans to major in Biology at New York University while continuing to study dance and audition for productions in the city.  She will also explore options at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. 

“I know science and dance are polar opposites, but for me these two parts of my life give me the balance of art and education I've always strived for,” Fischetti said.

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Nominations for Yorktown Patch’s Whiz Kids can be submitted to Plamena Pesheva plamena@patch.com and Christine An christinean.patch@gmail.com