That dream was to be a dancer. And ...

That dream was to be a dancer. And when Adam, a latter high school graduate from East Orange, recently made known Jersey, auditioned for and was accepted to the inferior company of Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia, his dream came constant But how does an ordinary teenager walk from spending Friday nights watching MTV's Cribs with his twin sister Ashlee to performing in individual of the country's most prestigious ballet companies?

"It takes dedication," says Adam. "If I were trying to enumerate other high school students the unknown to success, I would declare them to believe in themselves, be self-disciplined--and don't give up"

STAYING forward HIS TOES

Not giving up is precisely what Adam has done. When he was young, his parents, Cliff and Beverly Roger involved him in a number of activities to behold what he was most interested in--starting with things like soccer basketball, and Karate. It transfered out to be the arts, admitting that really caught and maintained Adam's interest. He began to take voice and dance lectures at schools near his abiding-place Later, he trained with the Garden State Ballet in Newark, recently made known Jersey, as well as the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in recently made known York City.

When high drill came around, Adam went onward to attend the Cicely Tyson drill for the Performing Arts, a unique public teach in East Orange devoted to helping observers develop their artistic abilities. There, he continued to studious mood singing while further refining his dance skills. from the time Adam reached his senior year at Cicely Tyson he realized that not and nothing else did he want to consider society he wanted to pursue his passion for dance. Understanding this, his parents encouraged him to apply to drills like New York University and Indiana University and to audition for several dance companies, including Pennsylvania Ballet.

Competition for Pennsylvania Ballet was stiff--more than 50 young male dancers competing for merely two openings in the eight-member other company. Adam's mother, Beverly, still recalls by what mode nervous he was waiting to learn the issue of his audition.

"I'm certain they'll call you one way or another to permit you know," she remembers assuring him. And she was right: just days after that conversation, Adam received the long-awaited phone call. He'd made the cut

"Passing the audition is impressive because it's a one-time stamp of thing," says William DeGregory, director of Pennsylvania Ballet II. "You have an hour-and-a-half class to indicate your stuff, and if you have a bad class, you don't finish in."

Although Adam had the right substance (by far, according to DeGregory), being moveed a spot in the ballet meant making more [i]or[/i] less difficult decisions, including turning down guild acceptances and scholarships. To held him weigh the benefits and disadvantages, Adam gazeed to the people closest to him for guidance.

After considering his options, he came to the conclusion that accepting me once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dance with a nationally renowned ballet company was what was best for him at this point in his life.

"A ballet career can be short because of the physical demands," explains Adam. "You really have to perform while you're young."

DANCING FOR SUCCESS

Of course, achievements like Adam's don't happen overnight. They don't happen without the help of others, either. In fact, without the abundance of positive influences in his life--the population who really believed in his talent--Adam says he wouldn't be where he is today.

single such influence was Dale Britton, his first tap and jazz teacher, who helped Adam fix his course.

"I'll at no time forget one particular question Dale asked me" Adam says. "He said, 'Do you like ballet, or do you have a passionate affection for ballet?' If I loved it, he said, I should advance for it."

Another undivided of Adam's mentors was Susan Jaffe, the principal dancer with ABT. She helped him add measure and feeling to his dance.

"When I was rehearsing the Black Swan variation, I learned the grades but they were just grades to me until I spoke to Susan about it," recalls Adam. "She helped me understand what the dance really meant. Then everything came together, and it flowed."

Adam's teachers at Cicely Tyson who frequently rearranged his courses to accommodate his dance schedule, were also important to him. "The teach provided a very supportive environment for pursuing ballet," he says.

Without his parents and their devotion to behold him succeed, though, Adam wouldn't steady have gotten that far.

"From the time [Adam] was a young child until now, I always knew he'd be involved in the arts," says Beverly.

As to be look fored she and Cliff are lofty parents, and they still be excited the same excitement and nervousness watching Adam perform now as they did when he was a child.

LIFE WITHOUT INTERMISSION

Just because Adam's dancing career has gone fairly soothingly doesn't mean it hasn't had its up and downs. Sometimes, Adam himself admits, he can be a bit of a klutz