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A Star is Born… in Chappaqua: Meet Skyla

August 24, 2020 by Beth Besen

A still from Skyla Schreter’s film, Unbecoming

During these difficult times, it’s important to come together–even when coming together is/must be a virtual reality. As a community, we can support one another and share the beauty; finding solace in that beauty, we can still enjoy our world. Enter Chappaqua’s own Skyla Schreter, dancer and choreographer, most recently with the San Francisco Ballet Company.

Skyla, daughter of Sena Baron and Daniel Schreter and older sister to Brice, grew up in town and, like most Chappaqua children, attended the local schools–in her case, Westorchard Elementary School and Seven Bridges Middle School. But, there and then, the similarities ended. Skyla, who “knew early-on what I wanted” chose and pursued a self-determined dance path when she was but ten years old.

She recalls, “I started with jazz, and I loved it. My mom suggested ballet as she understood it to be a foundation for many kinds of dance, and could provide the tools I needed to enhance the local jazz classes I was taking at the time.” Skyla says she tried a few classes here and there, but nothing felt somehow “right”, until she found Diana White in Scarsdale. With Diana, things “felt serious, structured and classic. It was like a light bulb went off for me.” So, at ten years old, she auditioned for and was accepted into the School of American Ballet (SAB) in Manhattan.

By middle school, Skyla was going in three times weekly; her parents took turns driving her in to the city and back home until she and they were comfortable with her taking the train by herself. In eighth grade, she was invited into SAB’s advanced training classes. This was another watershed moment in her young life, as the additional training time meant that her academic/dance balance would need to be revisited.

In order to make both work, Skyla transferred to the Professional Children’s School on the Upper West Side. For two years, she “took the 6:35 a.m. train with all (my) friends’ dads on Wall Street.” She’d attend academic classes from 8 a.m.–10:30 a.m., then take dance classes for two to three hours, followed by afternoon academics and then a return to dance. She’d finally take an evening train home in the 9 p.m. hour, starting her homework immediately on the return commute. Then she’d get up and do it all again.

This grueling pace finally slowed and became more manageable when she moved into the city at age sixteen, sharing an apartment with fellow dancers. Still, she’d come back to Chappaqua on weekends to spend time with her family with whom she has always been very close.

At her parents’ urging, Skyla took the SATs and completed the Common App in order to have options after high school graduation. However, as her 2013 graduation approached, she was offered a contract with the Boston Ballet in their second company and immediately accepted.

Skyla danced one season with Boston and, “almost on a lark but based on their first-tier reputation” attended an open audition for the San Francisco Ballet which was held in New York City. To her complete surprise, she was not only offered a position, but a contract with their prestigious corps de ballet. She admits that she had never thought of leaving the east coast for the west, but made the leap (or grand jete if you will) and quickly settled in to her new life there.

Skyla danced with the San Francisco Ballet for six seasons. While she had planned to retire this year to focus on choreography– “one of the things that most intrigues and inspires me about choreography is that it is self-made whereas dance is trained. Choreography is something I feel privileged to be able to share”–and move back to New York where she said: “performing arts is still best and most diverse.” The pandemic stepped up her schedule.

Pandemic Pivot

Skyla allowed that her biggest challenge is the “lack of collaboration available, at least physically.” She loves and misses the “real-time energy and ideas that happen and flow in the studio, working together with the dancers.” But creativity won out; Skyla used the initial lock-down period as one of introspection for herself and work. She began experimenting with different ideas, “taking a lot of time to explore details and nuances in my own personal movement that I normally would not allow myself the time or attention for.” She also began creating new outlines for future dance works, choreography she is “ready to translate to real bodies when the time comes.”

All that said, another challenge is the lack of audience. Skyla believes dance to “be a powerful experience not only for those who dance and create it, but for those who witness and watch it.” She found herself questioning the “point” of her work if it was no longer accessible, and determined that she must find a way to adapt dance to the virtual world. She had doubts about the power of dance on camera vs live, but “dove into creating dance that would end up not just on camera, but created for camera.” She was pleased to discover that “dance on camera can be very interesting and powerful in ways that differ from its live self.” One such dance of which she is quite proud is titled Unbecoming* and explores the many inner voices we all have, whether contradicting or difficult to face, and working to respect and ultimately accept them as part of our whole identity as individuals. It is about how these inner voices shape who we become.” Skyla also felt that Unbecoming was inspired by increased pandemic “alone time”, and the idea that alone time could provoke “a certain level of curiosity in the multi-faceted self.” She adds, “especially with all of the racial and social injustice that is finally coming to light, I feel that artists have a responsibility to speak to and mirror the times that we live in.”

Skyla rehearsing her choreography with fellow dancers of San Francisco Ballet
PHOTO BY ©Reneff-Olson Productions

Identity, Community and ‘In:Between’

Speaking of new choreography, prior to the pandemic, Skyla had planned to bring new dance works to New York: “I knew I wanted to launch my choreography by bringing it to a New York audience, and when I heard that the new Chappaqua Performing Arts Center was interested, I thought it would be the perfect anchor and springboard…In:Between was born out of much of my work which explores and deals with the space in between what we know and what we’re told. Dance can tap into a place that words can’t approach. This choreography explores the grey area between our thoughts.”

The plans included six pieces; five of Skyla’s own and one from guest choreographer and principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, Wei Wang. Skyla emphasized the team-effort involved with the creation of In:Between which, in addition to featuring dancers from the SF Ballet Corps de Ballet, also included 13 new costumes created exclusively for the show by both San Francisco–and NY-based designers.

In addition to dance, Skyla had lately been turning her creative energies to other artistic media–specifically, both film and painting. Her short film, A Flower, which was an official selection of the San Francisco Dance Film Festival in 2019 and the Utah Dance Film Festival in 2020) shows the journey of a flower through dance, and had been planned as part of the In:Between performance lineup. She had also planned to display her painting at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center. “Ballet can be thought of as inaccessible or elite, but it’s really just another form of artistic expression,” she said. “I enjoy emphasizing a multi-faceted approach to artistic expression as more inclusive overall.”

Finally, and because art doesn’t just inform and inspire but can gather people for a cause, Skyla has devoted time to the New York-based non-profit Dancers Responding to Aids (DRADance.org), which is a part of the larger Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids program. DRA was founded in 1991 by Denise Roberts Hurlin, former Paul Taylor Dance Company member and mother of Skyla’s school-friend and fellow dancer Catherine. Skyla recalls attending annual DRA benefits at SUNY Purchase and “feeling the power, even as a kid, of everyone on stage and in the audience coming together.” She notes that “AIDS is very relevant to the performing arts community” and feels it’s important to do her part to support her community. When audience members and dancers can safely congregate again, Skyla hopes to move forward with In:Between and DRA, perhaps, even as originally planned, at ChappPac!

Encore, Encore

It was impossible to resist asking Skyla many questions, or sharing them further here:

Skyla, you’ve accomplished so much in your young life, kudos to you! People must wonder if you ever felt you were missing out…on a more typical or normal childhood?

Skyla: No, I do not. I feel privileged to have known from an early age what I wanted. My thinking was “I just love to dance!” I recognize what I gave up, but I’m ok with it. There really is no “normal.”

Have you stayed in touch with Chappaqua friends?

Skyla: I left right before high school, and high school is a time when most kids find their paths and deepen friendships, so I don’t really have those friends. But I do keep in touch with my elementary school friends; these were real childhood friendships and they have lasted.

Do you have any advice for today’s kids who, like you, discover a passion early in life?

Skyla: Don’t be afraid to take an unconventional path. It’s not scary, it’s exciting! And, with specific regards to ballet, I think kids should know that you don’t have to be a “tutu ballerina” but can also go in with gym shorts and no makeup. There is no one way to do ballet! Whatever it is you love, go for it!

Finally and before you go–though you’ve graciously shared how you’ve personally pivoted with the pandemic and found new outlets for your creativity, can you briefly discuss your thoughts on how things have changed for the dance community at large?

Skyla: Not being able to train, rehearse, and create together in person has been a huge challenge for the dance community, and not being able to perform for an audience has been such a heartbreaking loss for all of us during this time, on many levels. But dancers are creative, and determined to keep working on their craft in one form or another. I have been taking and teaching dance classes online, virtually. One good thing that has come out of the pandemic is that it has broadened and connected the dance community. What used to be clusters of dancers, kept more or less isolated in their own companies, schools or cities, has spread to become a worldwide community. For example, right now, I am teaching a long-distance “Choreography Workshop” from my apartment living room. Though teaching class over Zoom has its many challenges, I wouldn’t normally be able to connect with these students otherwise at this time! This virtual dance community has so many opportunities for new and fulfilling connections that it takes a bit of the sting away from the physical collaboration we have lost during this time.

I also think what many people miss most, other than working in-person with their friends and dancers, is having the space to move freely. I can’t say that dancing in my living room is anything like an open ballet studio or stage. It is limiting in many ways. I personally have been trying to find ways to dance outside when possible, which is why I chose to shoot my film in various places around San Francisco, all of which were uncrowded enough to be safe for Covid-19 restrictions. Dancers like to be free and expansive with their movements and I think for those who can, finding time to spend in nature in some way or another, is a common choice for helping ease that feeling of being stuck or stagnant.

Life Time Chappaqua: ‘Highly Personalized, Ultra-Luxury’ Approach

November 13, 2019 by The Inside Press

Combining modern architecture and design with a nod to local history, the resort-like Life Time Chappaqua at Chappaqua Crossing provides a highly-personalized, ultra-luxury approach to health and wellness with a host of exquisite amenities on two floors. The Team Members at Life Time are honored to serve the community and members with a broad array of health, wellness, nutrition, relaxation and entertainment services and programs.

Highlights of the Diamond Premier-level club include:

Dedicated studios for exclusive group fitness, cycle, yoga and Pilates programming; one-on-one and small group GTX and Alpha Training
More than 200 pieces of best-in-class cardiovascular and resistance training equipment
Metabolic assessments and nutrition coaching
Kids Academy, for children from three months to 11 years, with special programming and classes from yoga and martial arts to art, homework help and Spanish Immersion
LifeCafe, nutrition-focused fast-casual restaurant featuring a full menu, Meals to Go and grab and go assortments, along with Peet’s coffee, proprietary nutritional supplements and more
LifeSpa, full-service salon and spa for hair, body and nails
Luxurious dressing rooms with whirlpools, saunas, steam rooms and complimentary towels and lockers

Life Time Chappaqua is open to its members Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. A limited quantity of membership options is available for individuals, couples and families. For more information, please call 914-296-6000 or visit my.lifetime.life/clubs/ny/chappaqua.

Courtesy of Life Time Chappaqua, Discover New Castle Sponsor

How Greeley Athletes Stay Fit Over the Summer

June 1, 2018 by Madeline Rosenberg

For most Greeley students, summer is a well-deserved break from the stresses that consume the school year. They no longer spend their days completing piles of homework, waking up at 6:30 a.m., and preparing for exams. During summer, most students can finally relax. But those months off from school can be anything but relaxing for athletes intending to play a fall sport. For these students, every bit of free time that comes with summer is spent training for preseason, which begins in August.

Although running through the heat of summer seems unappealing for many students, Greeley varsity athletes complete ambitious summer training routines over the summer to prepare for their fall sports seasons. Junior Max Notarnicola, a three-season varsity runner, says, “For the first few weeks of the summer, I plan to run about 20-25 miles per week. By the middle of the summer I plan to increase my distance to about 30-35 miles. Leading up to preseason, I plan to run over 45 miles and I will also be doing some speed work on the track. The speed work will most likely include mile repeats at around a five minute pace.” Nortaricola’s demanding summer training will prepare him well for his cross country meets in the fall.

Preparing for the Fall Season

Cross country coach and Spanish teacher Mr. McKenney can attest to the importance of running over the summer to prepare for the upcoming season. “Running and conditioning is our sport. All cross country runners who want to do well need to run over the summer,” McKenney explains. But he admits that not all runners follow as strict of a training regiment as Notarnicola does because “summer commitments and camps make it hard to find the time to run.”

While sports that revolve around running require rigorous training, the workouts that other varsity athletes complete over the summer to prepare for the fall sports season are equally as demanding. Captain of the Greeley Girls Varsity Soccer Team and junior Rebecca Putnam says that she stays active during the summer to stay in “soccer shape,” and tries to vary her workouts to avoid injury, as she works on different parts of her game.

She states, “Two or three mornings a week, I go to my SPARQ (speed, power, agility, reaction, quickness) trainer Andrew Abt in New Rochelle, and three nights a week, I work on technique in a co-ed soccer clinic for serious high school players and college athletes home for the summer. I also practice on my own to improve specific skills like shooting.” As captain, she will also be holding kickarounds for girls who plan to try out for the varsity team.

Younger Athletes Train Just as Hard

Although upperclassmen complete rigorous training schedules to prepare for preseason, younger varsity athletes are just as committed to maintaining their fitness over the summer. A member of the Greeley girls varsity field hockey and lacrosse teams, freshman Grace Arrese explains that she plays on a club lacrosse team four times a week, and also finds time to play on her club field hockey team, which the varsity field hockey coach runs.

Arrese’s training doesn’t stop at team practices and games. “During quiet weeks,” she says, “I go on runs with my sisters and grab a field hockey or lacrosse stick and head to the turf at Greeley.” For a varsity athlete, training for preseason is a time consuming, summer-long commitment. While many non-athletes get discouraged from exercising as the temperature rises, how do Greeley athletes stay committed to their training, especially during summer? Putnam says that she is able to stick to her training plan because she knows that “in the long run, [she] is not only improving [herself], but [she] is also benefiting [her] school and club teams.” She also explains that “improving should always make an athlete excited!”

Keeping Their Eyes on the Prize

Other athletes echo Putnam’s sentiment. “Having a decisive schedule for working out helps me stay committed,” says Notarnicola. Making a plan is the first step to sticking to summer training. He also states that “a strong work ethic is the most important characteristic to staying in shape.” Athletes must be willing to run through 80 degree temperatures, knowing that their preparation will benefit their teams in the fall.

Ultimately, though the training that Greeley varsity athletes complete over the summer is strenuous and time consuming, their hard work to maintain fitness is well worth the effort, because as Grace Arrese explains, “It is the best feeling when I arrive prepared for preseason.”

Boys & Girls Club CEO Alyzza Ozer Looks Forward, Gives Back

December 1, 2017 by Amy Kelley

On a recent school day afternoon, the lobby of the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester in Mount Kisco contained a bustle of activity. Cheerful-looking teens and adults wearing staff T-shirts greeted kids coming in and said goodbyes to kids leaving; an enthusiastic game of ping-pong was partially visible through the game-room window. Nearby, a young boy with special needs thoughtfully drove his toy yellow car along a table on his way out. A young woman in a pink headscarf walked down the hall past a complex, brightly-colored paper schedule affixed to the wall, toward a mother paying for swimming lessons at the front desk.

“Miguel, you’re matching all over today!” CEO Alyzza Ozer said to a boy whose sneakers, sweatshirt and backpack displayed the same green and blue. Down the hall, she asked another boy why he didn’t eat his mashed potatoes. “They’re so good!” she assured him.

Shantae Artis, director of volunteer programs at the club, was gathering signatures on several cards. “Yes, we write real thank-you notes,” she said, explaining that several local pizzerias had donated pizzas for a taste test and the Boys & Girls Club youngsters were expressing their gratitude the old-fashioned way. Artis was able to get everyone’s attention pretty easily, perhaps partially because the club has had a no-cell-phones policy for two years now. The only cell phones you’ll see in the halls are in the hands of parents coming to pick up their kids.

Ozer, a Chappaqua resident who grew up in Armonk, said at first, the teens resisted the policy –but now many express gratitude for it. “When we first instituted it, there was resistance,” she said. “But now the teens say, ‘thank you. Now there’s a part of the day when I can just enjoy myself and not be distracted.’” Technology is available, though, to groups of youngsters in the room where Power Hour is held, right across from the game room and around the corner from a busy kitchen and dining room where more than 80,000 meals are served every year. Homework is done, studying takes place, all assisted by adults, many of whom are bilingual. Some are staff members and some are part of the large volunteer contingent that is essential to the club’s operation.

According to Chappaqua resident Solveig McShea, director of community partnerships and fundraising at the club, “The club is a vibrant, welcoming and impactful place, where kids can just be kids. We need, however, the community’s help via financial and volunteer support to keep our programming running and to continue to help kids have the brightest possible futures.”

New Castle resident Dan Harrison volunteers to help with homework three afternoons a week. “I like to see the light bulb go off when a kid understands something they didn’t understand before,” he said. “We want the volunteers to have an equally valuable experience to the kids,” Ozer said. Then the experience becomes a partnership and the volunteers learn from the kids as well as vice versa. “There’s another world out there than what we see immediately around us.” Ozer is currently seeking, particularly, volunteers with expertise in the college application process.

The club serves kids ages 3-18 and their families, offering more than 40 programs including preschool, camp, swimming lessons, after-school care, volunteer opportunities and more.

The swimming program is, by any measure, stellar. Aquatic Director Dennis Munson, a club alumnus himself, has been with the club since 1969 and coaches the Marlins, a high-level swim team that’s consistently well-ranked nationally and has won the national Boys & Girls Club National Championships every year since since 2000. Marlins swimmers have been recruited to top colleges and make the pool atmosphere one where excellence is encouraged. Swimming instructors at the club employ innovative techniques.

More than 500 kids are served by the club every day. The children come from all over Westchester, primarily northern. Kids start trickling in at 7 a.m. and the last bus leaves just before the 9 p.m. close. Some of the kids from families below the poverty level, and others come very affluent homes.

All the youngsters who come learn there’s a wide world out there with all kinds of families in it, and are taught to value their community. “It’s not just a place,” Ozer said, explaining that many club kids spend many hours there for many years. In the process, many come to love the club, which is why so many staff and volunteers were ‘club kids’ themselves.

Tatiana Restrepo, 2017’s Youth of the Year at the club and now a freshman at Pace University, said, “This was my second home, my community.” “We have advocacy and leadership throughout the curriculum starting with 3-year-olds,” Ozer said. “What makes someone a great leader, able to advocate for their community? They need to be able to recognize their community and be grateful for it.”

Recently, younger children at the club made capes for children in the hospital. “They’re learning about empathy and gratitude and that not every kid is lucky enough not to be in the hospital,” Ozer said, and then the children act in response to that information. “All people, especially youth, learn leadership skills and empathy from giving back to the community.”

Older club kids have made trips to Albany and Washington D.C. to advocate for funding and legislation for various issues, and the club hosts various politicians to come talk to the kids, “so they know what a leader looks like and does.”

This training pays off into adulthood: Ozer said eighty-seven percent of kids who regularly attend Boys & Girls Club after-school programs are committed to giving back to their communities as adults. The club boasts other impressive statistics: Last year, 11 of the high-school seniors from the club were the first in their families to graduate high school in the US and go on to college. One hundred percent of the seniors continue on after high school to college or technical school, Ozer said.

Ozer had a career as an attorney in commercial real estate before turning her energies full-time toward her passion: the non-profit sector. “That was my passion,” Ozer said. “My extracurricular activity was always philanthropy.” For years, she served on the boards of various organizations while continuing to work in commercial real estate. “You get to a certain point in your life and you ask yourself, what am I doing and do I love it?” she said. “This is what I love doing and I’ve been extremely fortunate” to be able to make the transition, she said. Ozer also credits her mother for her interest in community service–she was a teacher who always stressed the importance of giving back.

The Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester depends on private donors and volunteers to do its work, Ozer explained. “There are a lot of extraordinarily worthy agencies, but the youth is really our future. Our work is essential,” she said. “That’s why I’m always excited to get out of bed in the morning.”

For more information, visit: http://www.bgcnw.com/

DIVISION ONE: “More than an Athletic Gym”

December 1, 2016 by Matt Smith

Karl Pfshtner, owner and Head Strength Coach at Division One Prep — Karl Pfistner, owner and Head Strength Coach at Division One Prep

“This place is really [a gym] for everybody.” It’s with this idea that Karl Pfistner, owner and Head Strength Coach at Division One Prep, on the border of White Plains and Armonk, runs his lively fitness facility. No matter who you are, or what level of training you’re at, Pfistner assures you, “You’re going to come in here and feel like you belong.”

A strong advocate of “effective training” over “just working out to work out,” Pfistner–a former athlete at the high school, collegiate and professional Arena Football levels–prides himself on Division One’s unique approach to training, which, in keeping with his beliefs, focuses just as much, if not more, on the mental health, body control and overall movement aspects of the workout as the actual physical workout. “You could come in here and squat 400 pounds, [but] if you can’t move on the field, that means absolutely nothing,” he explains.

Eager to instill his clients with this same way of thinking, Pfistner creates any given workout in the same way. “My focus is on getting you moving,” he says, straightforwardly. “It’s about quality over quantity or time [spent], and achieving the absolute best possible results for your body.”

To that end, while every workout covers several key focus areas–agility work, strength training, core work, and static stretching–the specifics of each session, 60 minutes in length, are tailored to each individual’s needs. “We push clients to their full maximum potential, so that they get full range of motion, and receive full maximum burn,” says Pfistner, adding that programs are further categorized into “sport-specific” exercises, so they can easily be translated onto the appropriate field/court/pool, etc.

Essentially, no matter what your age, conditions or limitations, “You’re going to have a workout that really caters to your goals and what you’re looking to accomplish.” (For the record, Division One’s staff also includes a Nutritionist and Life Coach to give clients the full “mental health” experience).

Another element Pfistner cannot emphasize enough? Structure. “That’s the biggest difference between us and other fitness facilities or high school gyms,” he explains.

“There’s a big difference between having a history teacher sitting there supervising an open gym, and an actual structured, laid-out program. Especially with colleges as competItive as they are to get into nowadays, athletes need structure. It can really set them apart.” Though his gym is indeed open to people of all ages, as a dad of four– who range in ages 5 to 15, he can’t help but hold a special place in his heart for the youth athletes. “I love working with youth,” he says, stressing the importance of instilling children with these values and ideals at an early age. “They’re hungry for knowledge; they just soak everything up.”

But, as mentioned, they’re not the only age group he sees: “I have a 45-year-old ex-college football player that wants to train before he goes to work on Wall Street.

I have two middle-aged tennis pros, who also used to play football, I have a 62-year-old retiree who’s looking to pursue a new passion and lose some weight. It really runs the gamut.”

And with so many people of different ages and abilities, and various levels of training, filtering in and out of the gym at any given time, Pfistner acknowledges it’s hard to say who will retain what they’ve learned after leaving the gym.

Still, he’s fully aware of the role he plays in the lives of his clients and strongly encourages them–and everyone else–to follow through. “The bottom line is it’s a small piece in a much larger puzzle,” he explains, in reference to his clients spending just one hour (out of 23 others) at the gym.

“My goal is to motivate my clients and instill in them a desire to stay healthy, so it’s ringing in the back of their head throughout the day… It’s my job to make you want to come back, and to give you the right training to get you excited about working out. If I can instill that idea in my clients, and have them carry that [healthy outlook] on through their life, then that’s a win for me.”
Division One Fitness Prep is located at 4 New King Street in West Harrison. For more information, please visit www.divisiononeprep.com.

Matt Smith is a writer and regular contributor to The Inside Press. For more information or inquiry, please visit www.mattsmiththeatre.com.

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