Monika Alch providing instruction to one of the students at Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet. Photo by Daryl Simons Jr.

In 1962, a young 18-year-old danced the role of Snow Queen in “The Nutcracker” for the first time, which was Monika Alch’s first professional solo performance.

Almost six decades later, Alch has continued to be active within the ballet world. Next year will be Alch’s 20th year serving as the artistic director and school director at the Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet. She reflected on her time here, and on her career.

“It’s a lot of work — blood, sweat, and tears — but it has been a wonderful experience, I have to say that,” Alch said.

Alch began her ballet training at the age of 4 in the Vienna Conservatory in Austria, completing her training at the Vienna State Opera. In 1960, she studied in an advanced student seminar under various prestigious dancers: Rosella Hightower, Anton Dolin, Jerome Robbins and Alicia Markova. She studied alongside some ballet greats such as Rudolf Nureyev, Eric Bruhn and Milorad Miskovitch. Nureyev would go on to become the most famous male ballet dancer of the 20th Century. Consequently, Alch would often be asked what it was like to have studied alongside him.

“He was quite laid back, and at the same time very intense and dedicated,” Alch said. “Eventually, we all went our separate ways. For Nureyev, the next stop was the United States. Little did I know that someday I, too, would go to the U.S.”

Alch’s career is vast and impressive. She had 10 years of professional experience in opera theaters in Klagenfurt, Gratz and Salzberg following her years in training, and summer festivals under Herbert von Karajan with ballet master Waszlav Orlikovsky. In the United States, she performed with Ballet Metropolitan (BalletMet) for five years with director Wayne Soulant. She showed a picture of Soulant and her during a production of the “Nutcracker.”

“Wayne Soulant was in this picture with me for the Nutcracker at BalletMet,” she said. “He looks at me and told me that I was in that big page, but ‘I [Soulant] ended up in the crease!’ Such a primadona! Here I am as the Grandmother, and he’s the artistic director.”

Following her time with BalletMet, Alch had choreographed several works: Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride” while at SUNY Fredonia, “La Traviata,” “Die Fledermaus,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and un Ballo in Maschera for Opera/Columbus in Ohio. Lastly, she had choreographed “The Merry Widow,” “The Magic Flute” and “Carmen” for Ohio State University.

Despite all of her professional experiences, artistic directorship presented a whole new range of challenges for Alch.

“I had never been an Artistic Director before CRYB,” she said. “That was the reluctance that I had. I mean, what do you do? I just had to learn.”

Asked of any advice she would give someone entering a similar position, Alch said, “Make sure you find out how much you can about the job. It’s not just teaching ballet, it’s putting together entire productions.”

That does not discount the experience that Alch had carried with her leading into this position. “I had a lot of experience in theater, in dance and music,” she said. “I mean, it needs everything. You should have knowledge of all those things.

It’s what I had, but I never really used it like this before.”

Fortunately, Alch held various teaching positions as well, teaching ballet and ballet history at Shenandoah Conservatory of Music, served as rehearsal director for the Columbus Dance Ensemble and taught while at BalletMet. Locally, she served as president of the Lily Dale Fine Arts council for a decade, and on the Lily Dale Board for another six years.

“It would have been helpful to have had someone show me the ropes,” she said, referring to when she began at CRYB. “I learned while I was going along. It’s not a comfortable feeling. But every year got a little easier.”

This current year, CRYB will be presenting the Third Annual Dance Noir on Nov. 10, which is an evening of curated dance performance featuring various choreography and ballet excerpts. “I thought it would be nice to do something different, something along with the Spring Gala and the Nutcracker,” Alch said. This year’s Nutcracker will be featuring two guest artists from NYC.

Looking back on her career, Alch humorously remarked, “So far, I survived. And hopefully I can celebrate my 20th Nutcracker next year.” As to what she will be doing in the future, she is not sure yet. But she knows that she will be doing something. “That’s a problem too, not doing anything. Maybe I could travel to Europe again.”