Columbia Classical Ballet suffers $260,000 in damage due to flooding

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – Among the hundreds of small businesses devastated by flooding last week was the Pavlovich School of Dance. It’s the home of classic Columbia ballet and a home away from home for more than a dozen international dancers.

Strength, flexibility and courage. Despite their delicate movements, ballerinas are sturdy. But seeing their studio – essentially their home – buried under 8 feet of water was enough to shake even their leader.

“Everything from my life from my dancing career is gone,” Radenko Pavlovich said. “You can’t bring that back.”

On top of that, many members of Pavlovich’s company pursue their passion here thousands of miles from home and now the little piece of Colombia that seems familiar is just an empty shell.

The renovations carried out in August were not the only loss. The costumes, the music, the resources that allow the dancers to do what they do have been destroyed by the water. The school estimates the new renovations will total $260,000.

“The self-abuse you go through as a dancer is unbelievable, because of the pain and everything you go through because you love what you do,” one dancer said. “You go through this urge to do it more and more. And I really saw that. What was really amazing was that once the water was gone, the dancers all came here and tried to save all they could.”

While this will be their biggest showdown to date, it won’t be their last.

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