From First-Year Experience to First Job: Bella Pansera ’23 Begins Her Career at Ballet Hispánico
Pansera works in fundraising for this New York-based dance organization, which she connected with through a course early in her time at Muhlenberg.By: Kabir Burman ’27 Friday, March 15, 2024 09:13 AM
Bella Pansera ’23 during her study abroad experience in Bologna, ItalyAs a first-year student, Bella Pansera ’23 attended a performance at Ballet Hispánico, a leading Latinx dance organization in New York City, to fulfill a requirement for one of her courses. Now, as a recent graduate, she works there.
“If we hadn’t gone to that performance freshman year, I wouldn’t have known about [Ballet Hispánico],” says Pansera, who was a dance and business administration double major at Muhlenberg. “And so I wouldn’t have been following them [on social media], and then I wouldn’t have seen their application, and I wouldn’t be here, so it truly came full circle.”
“After hearing about the program that Bella experienced at Muhlenberg, I do not believe I have ever hired a young person who was as prepared for the job as Bella was.”
—Lorraine LaHuta, chief development & marketing officer for Ballet Hispánico
Faculty frequently encourage dance majors to participate in off-campus experiences to engage firsthand with new and emerging trends in the field, Pansera says. Among these opportunities for her was a transformative internship experience after her junior year: Former Assistant Professor of Dance Megan Flynn told Pansera about an opportunity with the American Dance Festival (ADF).
With support from an Alumni Board Scholarship, which helps students finance low-paid or unpaid internships, Pansera moved to Durham, North Carolina. While the bulk of her role involved assisting with logistics, she also had the opportunity to run, produce and stage-manage two student choreography concerts and facilitate another that was run and produced by students.
Her internship built skills she used when she returned to campus: “I took what I learned at ADF through production, and I helped lead the senior showcase for the dance department,” Pansera says. And the Nonprofit Management course she took as a senior, with Professor of Business Roland Kushner, provided important context for her work with the dance department and eventually helped her stand out when she applied for the development assistant position she now holds at Ballet Hispánico.
“As a leader of fundraising for three august institutions over my 26-year career, I have hired many young people and am proud to have mentored several of them who went on to positions of significant success and responsibility,” says Lorraine LaHuta, chief development & marketing officer for Ballet Hispánico. “But after hearing about the program that Bella experienced at Muhlenberg, I do not believe I have ever hired a young person who was as prepared for the job as Bella was.”
"I attribute a lot of my success to the dance department and my mentors there," Pansera says. "They perfectly understood my goals and where to guide me through their own recent and current experiences working in the industry."
"I attribute a lot of my success to the dance department and my mentors there. They perfectly understood my goals and where to guide me through their own recent and current experiences working in the industry."
—Bella Pansera ’23
