Zara Baroyan on Ballet Accompanying

Acute Accompanist, written by Heidi Kurpiela for the Longboat Key Observer, looks at the life and work of Zara Baroyan, Sarasota Ballet's company pianist. An excerpt:

Baroyan has played the piano for the Sarasota Ballet since 2004. She works without sheet music, paying attention to the class combinations and drawing energy from the dancers. Seated with her back to the class, she watches the dancers through a mirror, stopping every time the teacher stops and restarting wherever the teacher picks back up.

Every teacher’s count is a little bit different, and the same goes for the dancers.

“You have to know who you are working with, their personalities,” Baroyan says. “You have to be a mind reader. Teachers can do unexpected things, and you have to be prepared to change.”