Her prestigious career with the New York City Ballet took her to stages and performance halls around the world, but, while she worked her way to the top of her field, Jennie Somogyi never lost her connection to the Lehigh Valley. Born in Easton and raised in nearby Alpha, New Jersey, Somogyi spent 22 years as a professional dancer before a third and final major injury compelled her retirement in 2015. Now her second act has brought her right back to where it all began. The Jennie Somogyi Ballet Academy opened its doors in Easton's Centre Square in June. “I was thinking it would be calm and quiet, but it was sort of overwhelming,” she says. Luckily, Somogyi is acclimated to performing under pressure.
Gymnastics was the sport that first got her moving as a little girl. It was recommended that she take ballet classes to further develop her skill set so she would be on par with the older girls in her class. “I just fell in love with moving to music,” Somogyi says. A family friend noticed the young Somogyi showing off her moves around the house. “She was watching me and said, ‘This kid has talent.'” That friend convinced Somogyi's parents to let her drive Somogyi to New York City once a week to train with renowned instructor Madame Nina Youskevitch. Still, Somogyi's parents weren't convinced that their young dancing prodigy truly had a future as a professional ballerina. Couldn't she hone her craft a little closer to home, at a more convenient location? Then, at the tender age of nine, Somogyi auditioned for the elite School of American Ballet, and was awarded a full scholarship. “My parents were like, ‘Oh, shoot,'” Somogyi laughs.
From that moment on, there was never any doubt that Somogyi was destined for the spotlight. At the age of 15, she procured an apprenticeship with the New York City Ballet. She was offered a full contract the following year, making her one of the youngest dancers in history to join the prestigious company, which was founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine. A few years later, she was named a principal dancer, the highest level within a professional company, which she would maintain for the duration of her career. Of course, success in any top-tier athletic arena is not often achieved without a heavy dose of determination, grit and good old-fashioned practice time. Somogyi recalls putting in 13-hour days, six days a week. “It's definitely a stressful career,” she says.
But her old stomping grounds would prove to be the dose of normalcy she needed to balance the grueling rigors of ballet with a modicum of inner peace. Although the majority of her time was spent in New York City, where she maintained an apartment, she bought a home along the Delaware River in Warren County, New Jersey at the age of 20. She would escape to there on her off days, a move that baffled some of her fellow dancers, who were firmly entrenched in city life. “I just liked to get out of the city and see green,” she explains. Somogyi also got married (to current Bernards Township Police Detective Brian Fallon) and later gave birth to a daughter, adding another level of complexity to an already hectic lifestyle. During her busy season, she can recall arriving home in New Jersey to spend time with her family as late as 1 a.m., only to be back on the road and bound for the Big Apple by 6 a.m. She credits her extended family with pitching in so she could keep up with her demanding career. “I was able to have a pretty normal life while doing this abnormal profession,” says Somogyi.
The injury that would bring about Somogyi's final curtain call happened during a performance in 2013: a tendon in her foot was toast. Still, she had battled back from other injuries before. “Every time, I was told: ‘You're never going to dance again,'” she says. Twice she proved her doctors wrong. But this time was different. “I just knew,” she says. “They had told me if I injured that tendon again, they couldn't fix it.” Four years later, she's still careful about movements involving the foot in question. “I try not to take extra risks,” she says. She knows an earlier aspiration of learning how to ski in her retirement years is now a no-go. But, she wasn't bitter then, and she isn't bitter now. “Twenty-two years for a professional athlete is a long time,” says Somogyi. “I really have done it all. I did everything I wanted to do.” And while she says she misses the camaraderie of her fellow dancers, she doesn't pine away for the grueling training regimen that was her reality for most of her adult life.
Shortly after her retirement from professional ballet in 2015, she became pregnant with her second child. She says she thought she'd take it easy for a while, but her phone kept ringing. “I started getting phone calls from people, asking me to coach their daughters,” she says. At first, she wasn't interested. But once she gave it a try, she was hooked. “I found myself really enjoying it, with that one-on-one time being able to analyze their technique,” Somogyi says. “It was like putting a puzzle together.” She toyed with the idea of opening a school in her name, but where? When she learned that a building she had always admired was going on the market, she took it as a sign. The former home of the Easton Dollar Savings and Trust Company in Centre Square was most recently an art gallery. “It's got a really cool vibe,” says Somogyi. While she appreciated the high ceilings and some of the other features, the floor had to go. Somogyi oversaw the installation of a special shock-absorbing floor, akin to what's used by the New York City Ballet. And that, she says, isn't the only thing that sets her studio apart. “You don't find this training many places. You'd have to go to New York City or Philadelphia to get this kind of training.”
According to Somogyi, she has pupils traveling up to an hour and a half for her instruction and guidance. These are students who are already committed to the sport; it's the same commute she used to make as an up-and-coming dancer, but in reverse. “They're either seeking a professional career or want to learn proper technique,” says Somogyi. Her ballet academy generally doesn't offer classes for the masses, although in 2018, the school's curriculum will include an introduction to technique class for girls aged 7-10 years. “It has just become very apparent to me that most of the problems I am seeing with dancers could have been avoided if they were taught correctly in the beginning,” says Somogyi. And so, inside her academy, all of the instruction comes from Somogyi herself. “I'm a little bit of a control freak,” she laughs. “My name is on it, so I want to know what's being taught.”
Somogyi says she sees a lot of potential in the young women who've entrusted their tutelage to her; one student was recently accepted into Somogyi's alma mater, the School of American Ballet. “She came to me and said that was her goal, and I said, ‘Okay, we'll get you there.'” Perhaps one day in the near future, it'll be that young lady who is twirling before a crowd of thousands at Lincoln Center, just like Somogyi herself.
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