Hannah Lipman

Born New York City, NY — 1998 / Living: New York City, NY

Interview by Speciwomen — July 2016

Speciwomen: Tell us about yourself. 

Hannah Lipman: My name is Hannah Lipman, I am a native New Yorker, I’m 17 years old, I’m a dancer at the School at Steps, I go to Professional Children's School, and my dream is to be a professional dancer. 

S: How did you get into dance? 

HL: I started going to the ballet with my dad when I was really little, probably around two or three years old, and I immediately fell in love. Seeing those ballerinas dancing around in beautiful costumes en pointe made me want to be just like them. Obviously every little girl wants to be a ballerina, but as soon as I started taking ballet classes I felt as though it was where I belonged. 

S: What dance do you do? 

HL: Ballet is my primary focus but I also take theater, contemporary ballet, and character classes. I used to study modern, Horton to be precise, but I had to stop to focus more on ballet.

S: Who inspires you? 

HL: I have so many dancers that inspire me so it’s pretty difficult to list them all! I am a huge fan of Russian ballet so many of my favorite dancers are from either the Bolshoi or Mariinsky. Dancers that I love would be Evgenia Obraztsova, Natalia Osipova, Maria Kochetkova, and Olga Smirnova. But as for retired/retiring/deceased dancers I would say some of my favorites would be Ekaterina Maximova, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Natalia Makarova, as well as Gelsey Kirkland and Sylvie Guillem (who are not Russian but just as brilliant in my opinion). Honestly, my list could go on forever since I am constantly finding out about dancers I didn’t know of before. I am a huge ballet nut and I absolutely love dance history as well. I even run an Instagram page devoted to it called russianfetuses. I know the name may seem strange, but I created the account to showcase today's ballet legends as children so that people understand and appreciate the hard work that goes into becoming a ballet dancer. I also wanted to inspire today's generation by posting videos of their favorite ballet dancers as a way of saying: “If they can do it, you can too!”

S: How do you deal with nerves before a show?

HL: This has been a very difficult task for me recently since I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself when it comes to performances. I have found experience definitely helps more than anything. However, I recently performed and found that reminding myself to stay in the moment, listen to the music, trust my work, and enjoy myself really help my confidence level and allow me to let go on stage and feel at ease. 

S: Tell me a short story about yourself.

HL: I was born on September 11,1998 and I was three months premature. I weighed 1 pound and 11 ounces and my entire hand could fit on my mom's thumb. I had to stay in the hospital for three months and was watched by the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) very closely. Soon enough, the three months passed and I was able to go home with my parents and begin living a normal life. To be honest, my life has turned out to be anything but normal and I am incredibly grateful for that. Even though I may have had a rough start at life, I am now incredibly lucky that I get to pursue my passion and I can't wait to see where it takes me. 

S: How has womanhood impacted you?

HL: In the ballet world, the woman has an incredible opportunity to be a multifaceted human being. Whether that may be in different classical ballet roles or in more contemporary works, the role of a woman is constantly being explored, interpreted, and reinvented by different artists today. I hope that one day I will be given the opportunity to put my own spin on what it means to be a woman and show people that being a woman is so much more than they ever thought it could be. I hope to push boundaries and explore the unlimited sides of womanhood.