Molly A. Altenburg '06

According to Molly M. Altenburg ’07, a dancer achieves a high only once or twice in her career. For this junior, the desire to achieve such a high—something she refers to as “the thrill of the hunt”—has not only formed the basis for an impressive career in dance, but also brought her the Suzanne Farrell Dance Prize, awarded annually by the Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA).

Growing up in a military family, few may have expected Altenburg to become a ballerina. She cites her unusual aptitude for “creative movement as a kid” that made dancing an outlet for self-expression.

Altenburg studied at The Washington School of Ballet for seven years and recounts that she practiced from three to eight rigorous hours a day. She turned to dance with a professional ballet company when she took a year off after high school to join The Washington Ballet.

For Altenburg, the transition from the harsh world of professional dance to the perhaps harsher world of Harvard was a difficult one. Though she now refers to the Harvard Ballet Company as a “second family,” Altenburg missed the intensity of her involvement with dance at first.

“I love it here,” she says, “but in the beginning I was kind of unhappy because I [went from] dancing as a job to not [dancing] at all.”

Having only attended high school for half days, Altenburg wanted to make sure she got a full college experience. But the English and American Literature and Language concentrator acknowledges with a smile that that may not have quite come true. “I don’t know if I’ve really gotten that,” she says. “But I like the hybrid that I’ve become.”

Altenburg plans to move to New York for the summer and take classes on Broadway and in ballet companies while also balancing a job to pay for the expenses of dancing. She says that time will become the true test of whether she can go back to dancing professionally after she graduates.

“Most girls are 17 when they enter ballet companies to dance professionally, and by the time I graduate, I’ll be 22,” Altenburg says. But she does not seem at all discouraged.

“It can be demoralizing when it doesn’t happen,” she says, discussing the struggles a dedicated dancer may face. “But when it does, it is very rewarding.” For Altenburg, at least, the challenge is one she is ready to take on.

“I have to make this happen,” she says, describing her work ethic as a dancer. “No one else can do this for me but me.”