En Pointe Again: A Student-Led Ballet Club at the University of Miami Gives Dancers a Second Act

By: Valentina Carbonell | UMTV Reporter

On Sunday afternoons inside Studio D at the University of Miami’s Herbert Wellness Center, the steady rhythm of piano music meets the soft scrape of ballet slippers against marley floors. Arms rise to fifth position. Toes stretch into tendus. For many of the dancers inside, the movements feel both familiar and long out of reach.

En Pointe, a student-run ballet club at the University of Miami, is helping former dancers reclaim an art form many thought they had left behind, but this time on their own terms.

Built on an open-membership model with no auditions, no cuts and guaranteed performance opportunities, the club has grown from 10 dancers in 2024 to nearly 70 members today. Its mission is simple: create a low-pressure, collaborative space where dancers of all levels can return to the studio.

The club was founded after several students who were not majoring in dance realized they shared the same longing: they missed ballet.

Faculty advisor Carol Kaminsky said the idea emerged when dancers who “might not otherwise meet” connected over their shared history in the art form. After drafting a proposal, gathering signatures and receiving university approval, En Pointe officially launched.

Club president Ava Byrne said inclusion is central to the organization’s identity.

“We want everybody to be included. We have no cuts,” Byrne said. Because the group is student-led, she added, the atmosphere feels different from traditional studios. “It’s not like one teacher that’s bossing you. We’re all super supportive and everybody is collaborating on the production together.”

Treasurer Emily Huffman said she felt that openness immediately.

“I didn’t feel nervous coming into the room,” Huffman said. “I really felt comfortable and I was excited to be there.” Now part of the executive board, she said she works intentionally to create that same experience for new members.

Kaminsky said many dancers arrive carrying complicated histories with ballet: sometimes burnout, sometimes personal or academic pressures. In college, she noted, they get the opportunity to “start fresh.”

For UM sophomore Jasmine Diaz, ballet was never just an extracurricular activity.

“I would definitely refer to dance as my first love,” Diaz said. “It’s the one thing that stayed consistent in my life, something that wouldn’t change until it did.”

Diaz began dancing at just three years old and trained intensely throughout childhood. By high school, ballet was not just part of her schedule – it was her identity.

But during her sophomore year, everything shifted. After she failed an Advanced Placement exam and faced mounting family stress, her mother made the decision to pull her out of competitive dance.

“I got my AP score back and unfortunately I didn’t pass,” Diaz recalled. The academic setback, combined with other family pressures, led to “my mom making the decision to take me out of dance.”

Diaz remembers trying to protest.

“I went and I spoke to my mom,” she said. “I just remember the conversation ending with, ‘I’m taking you out of dance.’”

Overnight, she went from training more than a dozen hours a week to just a few. Eventually, even that stopped.

“It definitely felt like something was missing. I felt empty,” she said. “There was like that hole in my heart where I was like, what do I do now?”

At one point, she believed she would never step inside a studio again.

“I was like, I guess I’ll just never see the inside of a dance studio again,” she said.

During her first semester at the University of Miami, Diaz stumbled upon En Pointe online. The discovery felt surreal.

“It was like, oh my God! I’m back,” she said. “Like, I’m back in that dance studio, in that dance environment.”

Still, doubt lingered. Having been away from ballet for years, Diaz worried about being judged.

“I always felt this way whenever I would start at a new dance studio, that I was being judged,” she said. “But none of that happened.”

The club’s open structure, Byrne explained, attracts many students with similar stories.

“Most people in our club did grow up dancing and missed it,” Byrne said. “And then decided to come back.”

Rehearsals now take place weekly at the Herbert Wellness Center, a facility typically associated with physical and mental well-being. For many dancers, the symbolism feels appropriate. Ballet, once tied to pressure and expectation, becomes something restorative.

En Pointe’s goal is to produce student-led showcases each semester, with choreography often created collaboratively by members themselves. Students also contribute to set design, costumes and stage management, expanding opportunities beyond performance.

When Diaz stepped on stage again for the first time in college, the experience was transformative.

“Once I stepped on that stage, all the nerves went away,” she said. “I just remembered why I love dance.”

Recently, Diaz was cast as a soloist – something she never experienced in her competitive dance years. The casting felt like closure for the younger version of herself who left ballet in tears.

“I wish I could go and tell my younger self, like, it’s going to be okay,” Diaz said. “Like all these tears… you’re going to dance again.”

Now, she measures success less by hours trained and more by how she feels.

“I feel whole again,” she said. “It’s nice. I love that.”

En Pointe is part of a broader trend. Similar student-run ballet organizations have formed at universities such as the University of Florida, University of Pittsburgh, Florida International University, and New York University, reflecting a demand for flexible, low-pressure dance spaces at the collegiate level.

Unlike conservatory programs designed for professional training, these clubs offer continuity without the pressure of competition. They provide a bridge for dancers who love the art form but choose other academic paths.

For Diaz and her fellow members, En Pointe is about more than returning to ballet. It is about community, collaboration and reclaiming something once thought lost.

Inside Studio D, as dancers repeat combinations across the floor, what unfolds is not just choreography. It is resilience in motion and proof that stepping away from something does not always mean leaving it forever.

For some University of Miami students, the stage is not a memory.

It is home, once again.