Editor's Note: Arianna Lawson was accepted to a three week summer program at the Bossov School of Dance. Her family has not yet decided whether she will apply to the academic program as reported in the print version of this story. She will also be attending  a summer program at the Joffrey Ballet School in Michigan. Her mother also notes she has been accepted to several other programs including programs at the American Ballet Theater and the Boston Ballet. She attends Scarborough Middle School. Arianna was only briefly homeschooled.
The Leader regrets these errors which have been corrected in this version.

By Nate Jones
Staff Writer
    Ten years ago, Arianna Lawson started ballet lessons at the Small Step School of Dance in Scarborough, and she has been making leaps and bounds towards a professional career as one of the most talented ballet dancers in Maine ever since.
“It was a typical Mom thought,” Michelle Lawson, Arianna’s mother, said of her decision to put Arianna in a dance class as a toddler. “Mostly to burn off a little energy.”
While Arianna, now 14-years-old, began practicing several different styles of dance, including tap and traditional Irish dances, Michelle Lawson said she could see ballet was where Arianna excelled. At age 9, Arianna enrolled in the Portland Ballet program, where she is still participating in the final stages of their three-year Collaboration, Outreach, Recognition, Performance and Scholars (CORPS) program.
“She needed something that focused on just ballet,” Michelle Lawson said. “I could see it was going to take her into adulthood.”
The CORPS program typically enrolls high school students, but made an exception for Arianna, who has become a prodigy in the local ballet community, Michelle Lawson said.
“Everything needs to be perfect,” Arianna said. “You have to get every detail. And there’s a lot of stuff.”
Arianna has attended several programs all over the state, and spent four weeks in at a University of Texas ballet class last year.
Arianna is taking classes at Scarborough Middle School part time while she continues her routine of practicing dancing for more than three hours a day.
“She just keeps plugging along,” her mother said.
Arianna will take part in a three-week summer program at the Bossov School of Dance in Pittsfield, and is considering applying for their academic program.
Arianna plans on attending a four-week summer program at the Joffrey Ballet School in Michigan, one of the country’s most elite dance schools, as well.