At age 12, Annie Gustafson has been dancing for three-quarters of her life. Despite sore feet and time away from friends, the seventh-grader said there's nothing she enjoys more. (photo provided)
What was it like to set a Guinness World Record?
Annie Gustafson will never struggle to find that "fun fact" to share at a party or office ice breaker. She will always be someone who set a world record.
Annie, a seventh-grader at Hinsdale Middle School, was one of 353 dancers to set a new world record for most ballet dancers en pointe simultaneously in New York earlier this year. The group set the new record by performing a bourree together for one minute. The previous Guinness World Record of 306 dancers was set in 2019.
Annie and her mother, Heather Gustafson, were in New York as part of the Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition. Annie, who studies ballet and contemporary dance at Hinsdale Dance Academy, performed solos during the competition.
Annie said she hadn't planned to be part of the record-setting event.
"We saw online that they needed a couple more people to meet the record," said Annie, who was at a nearby Starbucks when she viewed the Instagram post. She quickly threw on her tutu, arranged her hair into the required bun, and headed to the Plaza Hotel.
"I used to read the Eloise books every night with my dad," Annie said, so being inside the famous hotel where Eloise lived was a thrill in itself. Being part of a record-setting event made it even better.
The plaza ballroom was filled with photographers and people counting the dancers as they arranged themselves in perfectly straight lines.
"It was almost like paparazzi, I guess," said Annie, who was dancer No. 250.
Word of the new record spread quickly. Annie said she and her mother heard it reported on the radio while traveling in a taxi just hours later. It also was reported by the New York Times, BBC, Vogue and by ABC 7 Chicago, which mentioned Annie as a local participant.
"My mom got dozens of texts," Annie said.
The record-breaking feat was performed in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the YAGP.
"It's a prestigious competition," Annie said, with just a handful of dancers chosen to participate from each regional competition held across the U.S., Asia and Europe. The youngest in her category, Annie was one of just 12 dancers invited to New York from the Chicago regional competition. Her New York performances resulted in the offer of a scholarship to an American Ballet Theater program.
A dancer since age 3, Annie dances about 12 hours each week. She's currently preparing for the dance school's end-of-year recital. This summer, she will return to Monaco to study ballet at the Princess Grace Academy for the second year in a row.
"I'm super grateful to have gotten in again," said Annie, who last year was the only U.S. dancer to attend.
The academy's goal is to train professional dancers who will go on to join major international companies. While Annie loves to dance, she has yet to decide on her future career.
"It's so hard, and it's so challenging on your body," she said. Still, the most difficult times are those when an injury takes her off the dance floor.
"The hardest part is not dancing," she said.
- by Sandy Illian Bosch
