McMillan Performs in Houston Ballet Lead Role

McMillan Performs in Houston Ballet Lead Role

BY DAVID KAPLAN
Rice News Staff
June 25, 1998

When Hanszen College sophomore Ayisha McMillan learned that she had landed
her first big role with the Houston Ballet, she was so thrilled that she could
barely settle down enough to prepare for her performances. McMillan performed
one of the featured roles in "Rapture," one of the dances in a mixed
repertory program presented at Wortham Theater, May 21-31.

McMillan says she discovered that the best way to overcome her excitement was
to listen to her favorite rock singer Ani Difranco. One of her favorite Difranco
songs is "Joyful Girl" ("I do it for the joy it brings/ ‘Cause
I’m a joyful girl").

The song describes McMillan and relates to her part in "Rapture,"
which, she says, is about "heaven and being in heaven. My role was very,
very happy," McMillan says, noting that she was able to do "a lot
of jumping and running and spiraling all around." She says the character
she portrayed is "pure and grateful."

McMillan has been a happy and grateful member of the Houston Ballet Co. since
May of ’96. "Rapture" was her first professional lead role in her
young career. She shared the role with one of the company’s principal dancers,
Lauren Anderson. They appeared alternately in the six performances.

After learning that she landed the role, McMillan called her mother, Connie
Van Brunt, who lives in Chicago. In typically exuberant fashion, she told her,
"Oh Mom, I’m so excited! It’s just the greatest part in the world!"

She may very well have many more fine parts in her future. Houston Ballet Academy
principal Clara Cravey says that McMillan is an exceptionally versatile dancer
who can shine in both classical and contemporary genres. One of the reasons
Cravey says she loves watching McMillan perform is that "she has such a
wonderful personality, which she is able to project on stage." Cravey also
describes McMillan as "an idealistic student, in class as well as in person."

McMillan has been attending Rice since the fall of ’96. Reflecting on her academic
experience, she says, "Oh my gosh, I’ve been loving Rice." McMillan’s
demanding, 40-hour-a-week work schedule with the ballet company doesn’t allow
her to have a full course load, but she has been able to immerse herself in
a rich variety of classes since she’s been at Rice, and, slowly but surely,
she is earning her degree. After she completes her ballet career, McMillan would
like to be a museum curator.

Her studies have been focused in the humanities. Her favorite courses have
included poetry writing, "Oral Interpretation of Literature," a religious
studies course titled "Jewish-Christian Dialogue," a Russian history
course, and an anthropology course titled "Symbolism and Power."

She says the main reason that she decided to attend Rice is that "I knew
I’d be surrounded by a lot of really neat people." She says the commentary
and exchanges among teachers and classmates have been "really exciting."

McMillan notes that Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho has
been "very supportive" of her as she strives to balance her worlds
of academia and dance. "He’s been great, and so have my academic advisers,"
she says.

Says Camacho: "To be able to do course work and be a professional ballet
dancer is an extraordinary accomplishment."