Eric Conrad Stith III was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Eric started training at the age of 7 at The Old Donations Center for the Gifted and Talented. He trained at The Governor’s School for the Arts for 4 years and also danced with Elevate Performing Arts Center for 3 years. While at The Governor’s School, he performed in works by Paul Taylor, Erick Hawkins, and original and staged works choreographed by teachers at The Governor’s School. Eric danced the role of Johnny in Paul Taylor’s Company B and Lucien in The Governor’s School production of Paquita. He played a major role in Richard Alston’s piece Arrived that was part of the film Dancing on the Shoulders of Giants in 2019 with WHRO. Eric has studied at three summer Intensives: Orlando Ballet School, The School of American Ballet, and Charlotte Ballet Summer Intensive. In Charlotte, Eric has done work with the community, such as performances with Elevation Church. He taught ballet at El Alma de la Luna Dance Academy. At Charlotte Ballet, he performed Donizetti Variations, choreographed by George Balanchine, staged by Patricia McBride, and contemporary work choreographed by Chris Stuart.
GET TO KNOW ERIC
- Hometown: Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Favorite role that you have danced: I really can’t decide between two pieces that I’ve done: performing Johnny in Company B, and Donizetti Variations. Johnny was probably my favorite role in the sense of entertaining the audience. In the “solo,” Johnny makes the entire audience laugh with the isolations of the body at the perfect time for comedic effect, facials, and personality that you must possess to do this role. I loved every second of performing this, and I gained the best experiences with my friends and teachers while rehearsing and performing Company B. Donizetti Variations is my favorite because it was more of a dream come true if anything. I am completely in love with Balanchine’s choreography and I have spent the last couple years of my life studying him and his work. So, dancing Donizetti was a milestone for myself, and was life changing.
- If you weren’t dancing, what would you be doing? If I wasn’t dancing, I would definitely be teaching dance and choreographing. I love being able to teach people what I know and learn new things about my own dancing when I teach. Choreographing gives me a way of using what I know and producing something new that I can give to the dance world.
- Favorite TV show: Spongebob, Shameless, Schitt’s Creek, Avatar the Last Airbender, and American Horror Story
- Hobbies you enjoy outside of dance: I love studying and watching documentaries on ballet history to learn new things, plus it’s just very interesting to me. I’m currently in community college as a Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship major. I watch a lot of YouTube. I also started playing the keyboard.
- What you’re most looking forward to as part of Charlotte Ballet II: To be offered a second company spot gives me an opportunity to be able to keep dancing and gives me an opportunity to learn more about myself as a dancer. For me being in a company spot gives me a new area to learn about the company life, and just dance itself.
