All it took was one performance, and Carrie Petrak Preus knew what she wanted with her life.
“A neighbor was a snow crystal in ‘The Roar of Love,’ and they invited us to see the performance. I was 3, and I sat mesmerized. I told my mom I wanted to do that,” said Preus, who will perform with Augusta Ballet as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker at 7 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Columbia County Performing Arts Center. For tickets, go here.
“The Roar of Love,” now known as “Narnia,” is the signature annual performance of Augusta Ballet.
Preus’s mom, Jayne Petrak signed her daughter up for ballet classes under Ron and Kathleen Jones, little knowing that when Preus said she wanted to dance, she meant as a career. Preus is currently in her eighth season with Ballet Spartanburg.
This season marks 40 years of dance under Ron and Kathleen Jones. Their company has changed names over the years from Augusta Dance Theatre to Columbia County Ballet to Augusta Ballet, but their passion for dance has not.
And it was their love of dance that influenced Preus at an early age. Kathleen Jones taught pre-ballet for many years and was Preus’s first teacher when she joined the Jones’s ballet school in 1994. By the time Preus joined the performing company, Ron Jones was her teacher and mentor.
“I’ve yet to find a mentor like Mr. Ron. He knows how to bring out the artistry in all of his dancers, and he encourages that. I’ve been fortunate enough to dance all over the country. Mr. Ron has this special gift at bringing out the dancer’s best,” she said.
The former Columbia County resident danced at the Fury’s Ferry Road studio for about 12 years, performing as the Sugar Plum Fairy for the first time when she was 15 – right before she made a huge leap toward her dream.
“I had to make the difficult decision my freshman year of high school. Yes, this was going to be my career path. I was driven and excited about it, but I knew I’d have to seek training outside Augusta,” she said.
Ron and Kathleen Jones remember her coming to the office and sitting down with them, telling them she wanted to dance professionally. They would advocate for her with her parents.
“Tom Petrak (her father) wanted to roll me down the road because I had done this. I said ‘no, no, no didn’t do it. You just have a talented daughter,’” Ron Jones said.
That talent and drive led her to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she spent her sophomore through senior years of high school.
The program was intense with a mix of academic blocks and dance from morning until late at night, but what she gleaned from Ron and Kathleen Jones stayed with her.
“It prepared me to be a professional dancer. You’re constantly going. You don’t get a lot of breaks. You’re fatigued a lot. You have to dig deep to find the drive to keep going,” she said of her time in North Carolina. “Having that passion instilled in me at such a young age was instrumental in keeping me motivated, keeping me excited about dance and sharing that love of dance.”
She majored in dance at Kennesaw State University and danced with the Atlanta Ballet and Georgia Ballet. After college, she spent two years with Bodiography Contemporary Ballet in Pittsburgh, before returning close to home.
Over the years, Preus has returned to Augusta Ballet several times to take part in different productions as well as to guest teach and set choreography.
She’s performed the role of Sugar Plum in Spartanburg for the past three years and will bring that choreography along with dancer Will Scott, who will dance the role of the Cavalier.
“I’m honored and humbled to be coming back for Sugar Plum for their 40th,” she said.
She’ll dance the role of the Dew Drop Fairy in Spartanburg Dec. 13-15.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for 35 years. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
