It’s a chilly night and there’s a sheen of frost on the pavement outside Academie de Ballet Classique in Northeast Bend. But inside the warm and brightly lit studio space in Wagner Mall, a small group of dancers are anything but cold as they’re put through their paces in something Lindsey Clements calls “choreo corner.”
Clements, the instructor and choreographer for the elite modern performance group at “ABC,” as it’s known by its students and instructors, demonstrates a quick “snippet of choreography” that the eight young women who comprise the group then recreate. Over the course of 20 minutes, they build snippet upon snippet until they have linked together a small performance that’s as artistic as it appears exhausting, physically and mentally.
“Everyone says you can’t multitask, but I think as a dancer, you can attest that it is possible to multitask. You always have to be one step ahead,” says Hailey Crum, 18, one of two high school seniors in the elite performance group. “That’s what I tell people whenever I’m choreographing something and they’re having trouble picking it up. You have to be thinking of the next thing while you’re doing something else. Things can be so fast that if you’re not thinking two moves or two counts ahead the whole time, you’re never going to catch up.
“That’s what I think makes it so different from other sports is that so many other sports have a certain play or a certain strategy for each moment, but not dance,” adds Crum, who’ll graduate from Mountain View High School this June. “You can’t just think of a certain moment in the moment you’re doing it. You have to think about it beforehand. That’s where the difficulty really comes from. You always have to be thinking ahead. People always tell you to really be in the moment, but sometimes you can’t, because that’s just what dance is. It’s being two steps ahead, knowing what’s next, knowing the timing, knowing when to come on, and knowing your music. It’s almost sometimes more mental than it is physical.”
Valerie Holgers, who owns ABC and has been teaching dance for 60 years, said the fusion between mental and physical is what makes dance so beneficial for anyone.
“We draw a lot on artistry, but more importantly, we want to make sure that we’re getting the entire brain involved,” Holgers said. “Dance with music does all of that. It helps these young brains develop and become more robust because we’re sending signals across the two halves of brain.”
Clements, who holds a bachelor’s degree in dance from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said she’s always “amazed” at the athleticism of dancers. She moved to Bend after college to be closer to family and has been teaching since 2020 at ABC, which is owned by Valerie Holgers, who’s been teaching dance for 60 years. At ABC, students follow a curriculum set forth by the Royal Academy of Dance. Dancers proceed through the stages of ballet from beginner through the highest levels, testing into each level in front of independent adjudicators. Most of the dancers in the ABC elite performance group are at or near the highest level offered through RAD. And while it’s easy to observe the beauty and artistry as they dance, there’s also bona fide athleticism and strength in display, too.
“I’ve always referred to it as an athletic art, but many of the dancers at our studio will refer to it as a sport,” says Lydia Chance, 18, a senior at Summit High School who has studied at ABC since she was 4. “It definitely requires a lot of technique and practice, and it requires endurance and strength. Not only are you having to have the endurance and the grace and the artistry, but then also just the muscle memory and the mental memory, and then the counting and staying with everybody. There are all kinds of things you’re thinking about, like keeping your like legs straight and your toes pointed, and are you upright, and are you engaging all your muscles? You’re also thinking about the timing and the counts and what you’re actually supposed to be doing. But while you’re also thinking about all those things, you’re trying to make sure it looks beautiful and graceful.”
Clements concurs.
“There’s really nothing like it. There are very few sports where you have to think about the very tips of your fingers all the way through to the bottom of your toes,” says Clements. “It takes so much body awareness, and that means because you’re using every part of your body, like these dancers are, you have to be very fit. I’m always impressed by the power of dancers. They are incredible athletes. And it’s not only physical. There’s quite a bit of mental going on there. There’s so much recall. That’s why a lot of times for people who are trying to prevent Alzheimer’s or dementia, or that type of cognitive decline, they suggest ballet because it connects your brain to so many different things. There aren’t many sports that do that, where you not only have to listen to the music, but you also have to remember each intentional step. You have to recall all of the choreography. You also have to emote. You’re not just there to go from point A to point B, but you have to go from point A to point B as gracefully and strong as you can while you’re also performing, while you’re listening to the music, while doing it at a particular time. That’s not a very common thing for most sports, to have to kind of think about all of those things all at once.”
As the ABC dancers take a quick water break, they laugh and joke amongst themselves, a strong bond obviously running through the group. Many of them have danced together at ABC since they were little girls.
Hailey Crum at her first-ever show with Academie de Ballet Classique.
Credit: Hailey Crum
“I think that’s the beauty of being able to do a sport outside of a school sport because you get to meet people from all over. These are girls I probably wouldn’t have met through school or any other experience, but I’m best friends with them, and that’s something I’m grateful for,” says Chance, who along with Crum is heading into her final performances with ABC, as both will head to college next fall. Chance plans to major in forestry or environmental science at Oregon State University in Corvallis, while Crum is still deciding between San Diego State University and the University of Arizona. She plans to major in journalism. The two have been friends since first meeting in dance class at ABC and will cap off their time at the studio by dancing the leads in ABC’s production of the “Wizard of Oz” in June, a show that’s open to the public. Chance will perform the role of Dorothy and Crum the role of Wicked Witch of the West.
“As seniors, it’s really fun for them to get to play those lead roles,” Clements said. “That’ll be their last performance with the studio. It’s always a loss when we lose our leaders. They’re incredible role models. We’ll get new leaders, but they’re such unique people and you can never replace that. I will miss them so much.
“I’ve known them since they were 11 or 12. Seeing them grow up from being preteens to now, at 18, has been such an incredible thing to be a part of. One of the pillars of our studio is community, and you can only have a good, healthy dance community when you have these amazing leaders,” Clements said. “Both of those dancers are 100 percent just the best role models for the other dancers to look up to. I don’t think that our studio would be as successful as it is if we didn’t have the two of them and the other seniors who have come before them to really kind of model what it looks like to not only be an incredibly hard worker and disciplined, but also just be a really kind, generous, respectful person to the whole dance community. It shows in everything that they do.”
Prior to the “Wizard of Oz,” the elite group will perform in the Bend Dance Project at the Tower Theatre in May and recently performed at the Terpsichorean Dance Studio’s showcase. Additionally, last summer they performed at Camp Courage, which is for youth who are dealing with the loss of a loved one, offered through the Clear Morning nonprofit. Additionally, they perform vignettes from “The Nutcracker” and other dances annually at the Ronald McDonald House during the holidays.
Typically, the elite group does at least five performances a year, Clements said, typically for nonprofit organizations or at assisted-living facilities. The goal is to bring the joy and artistry of dance to those who might be going through a difficult period.
“I’m really intentional with picking something that I think will provide a service to the community and to the dancers who get to be a part of it,” said Clements, who is the operations manager at Bethlehem Inn. “I think that for me, I’ve always been a service-minded person and that’s just increased since I started working at Bethlehem. I’ve seen just how powerful it is when people have tools that they can use to move through whatever situation they’re in. For me to be able to use dance, and for the dancers that I get to teach, I think it just provides even more meaning. It’s more than just something beautiful to watch. It becomes something special that people can use to heal or to find joy or to connect with people. I like to seek out opportunities that will really kind of serve the community. And also, at ABC, community is one of our pillars and is something that we focus on really heavily.”
Anna Hattemer, guest services coordinator and volunteer manager for the Ronald McDonald House, which provides housing, programming, and support for families who have children receiving medical care at St. Charles and elsewhere in Central Oregon, said families staying at the Ronald McDonald House are always appreciative of the ABC troupe’s uplifting performances.
““Every year, it’s been delightful to have them come by,” Hattemer said. “They do a couple different performances for us, and then this past year they passed out cards to some families that were very heartwarming. Most of the families bring their kiddos (from the hospital) with them, and they’re always super interested and intrigued, and then afterwards, you see the little kids doing ballet tricks themselves. It’s always been great for our families, and they’ve always loved it.”
For Crum, the studio’s focus on giving back to the community is a message she’s taken to heart. At MVHS, she’s the social media coordinator for the student Interact Club, a community-service group, and she also is helping to get the National Honor Society back up and running. She said it’s “bittersweet” to think about not dancing regularly at ABC, but that she’ll carry forward the lessons, both in dance and life, that she’s learned there, and hopes to instill them in other young dancers.
“It’s very interesting because it’s been a part of my whole life,” said Crum. “I’m ready for new things, but it’s strange because there will be times when I don’t dance as much, but I still know it’s always there. It’s definitely very bittersweet. I think I will miss all the girls, the family, all the teachers. It just a little bit feels kind of, like, ‘What am I going to do with everything I’ve learned?’ But I love to teach, and I love to choreograph. So, even if I don’t necessarily continue dancing myself, I think I want to help others through teaching and choreographing wherever I do end up.”
ABC’s performance of the Wizard of Oz will be on Saturday, June 20 at Caldera High School. Additionally, ABC has a full slate of classes and camps for beginning through advanced dancers, including a “For the Young at Heart” class for dancers of all ages, and a K-pop camp and Magical Unicorn camp. For more information, go to https://abcbend.com/classes/.
This article appears in the Source March 5, 2026.
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