Exhibitionists·Art Kids

What does it take to make it as a 13-year-old ballerina? More dedication than most of us have

What did you do in eighth grade? Lilia Greyeyes takes you through a day in the life at Canada's National Ballet School.

Lilia Greyeyes takes you through a day in the life at Canada's National Ballet School

Lilia Greyeyes is our latest artist to be featured for her work in our Art Kids series. (CBC Arts)

Lilia Greyeyes's day starts bright and early at Canada's National Ballet School. After a full set of courses, she heads straight to ballet class for another round of practice. But this is nothing new to the young student — she's been dancing since she was only two years old.

"I just really love ballet," explains Greyeyes in the video below.

Watch the video:

Art Kids: Lilia Greyeyes

7 years ago
Duration 3:48
Lilia Greyeyes takes you through a day in her life as a 13 year old ballet dancer at Canada's National Ballet School.

Clearly, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree: Lilia Greyeyes is the daughter of famed Canadian actor, director and choreographer Michael Greyeyes. He's also a Canada's National Ballet School alumnus. Lilia's mother, Nancy Greyeyes, is an award-winning dancer who's worked with ballets in Canada and the United States.

"Some days you may lose your motivation to continue training and you kind of just want to sleep or take a break. But it takes a lot of discipline to push through and do it for yourself," says the dancer.

Practicing 19 hours a week on top of a full week of school gets stressful — so in her downtime Greyeyes heads up to the cabin with her family and spends her time drawing art and playing with her dogs Teddy and Scout.

Lilia attends the National Ballet School in Toronto. (CBC Arts)

Art Kids is a series that travels the country to find the next generation of groundbreaking creators in arts from painting, to dance, to poetry. Their accomplishments will amaze you — and might make you feel a little bad about yourself. But that's okay.

Watch CBC Arts: Exhibitionists on Friday nights at 11:30pm (12am NT) and Sundays at 3:30pm (4pm NT) on CBC Television.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Priscilla Galvez is a Toronto-based Producer and Director. Most recently, she produced the BravoFACT short film The Emissary and is currently in post-production on a sci-fi action short The Drop In for Bell Media. Priscilla is in development on the web-series Off Kilter with director Alejandro Alvarez Cadilla as well as directing and co-writing the short film Wolf Alice, based on the short story by Angela Carter. Jeff Pavlopoulos is a Toronto-based writer, director and cinematographer striving to encounter the unfamiliar in the everyday. He is currently developing a short series, Secret Chiefs, about the invisible ties that bind us to one another, and the hidden, sometimes dangerous world that exists all around us.