Q&A: Ballerina, Model Brittany Cavaco

Brittany Cavaco is in her first season with the Ballet Theatre of Maryland. Previously, she did two seasons with the Washington Ballet in D.C. before joining BTM. Cavaco was born in Rhode Island and is the first member of her family to move out of the state.
 

The Severna Park Voice sat down with Cavaco during a recent BTM rehearsal to catch up with the ballerina. You may recognize her from one of her many viral, national or international modeling campaigns that have appeared in publications like Vogue and Marie Claire.
 

Here are highlights from our interview:
 

The Voice: Can you tell me a little bit about your journey and how you ended up here?

Brittany Cavaco: My parents raised me knowing that education was first, and I’ve been dancing since I was 3, so dance has always been a huge part of my life. When I was just starting high school, I switched studios, and I started seriously training the vaganova method, which is the Russian technique. That’s when I started really considering if I wanted to have a dance career. … I moved to New York City, and things kind of skyrocketed. My dance training really developed. I also was able to, in my words, bring my dancing outside of the studio and stage. I started doing ballet photoshoots in the urban, grungy city. Some of my pictures ended up going viral, and that opened up new opportunities for me getting to work with different photographers from all over the world.

The Voice: You mentioned So Danca. How long have you been with them?
Cavaco: I’ve been a brand ambassador for So Danca just for the last year. I’m the face of So Danca Europe for 2018-2019, which is awesome. I love working with the brand. They’re a family-owned brand, and they make you really feel part of their family, which is really cool. They’ve opened a lot of opportunities. I’m actually going to design pointe shoes with them next year, which is a huge step in my career. I’m really excited because not many dancers get the opportunity, and a lot of people who design pointe shoes weren’t necessarily dancers; they were pointe shoe makers, so it’s cool to get a dancer’s perspective.

The Voice: Is modeling something you’ve always been passionate about, or is it something that just happened?

Cavaco: I think I’ve always liked to emote, especially in my dancing. Someone picked up on that when I was 14, and they asked me to be in a fashion show [competition] in Rhode Island. I ended up getting second place, and I got to model in Express. That was my first real experience, and that was so cool. That gave me a taste of the modeling world, because that was a real brand, a real business.

The Voice: Where do you hope to go with your career?

Cavaco: Ballet-wise, I want to keep growing as an artist and as a ballet dancer. This is my No.1 priority, this is my No. 1 passion above modeling and anything else in my life. I’ve worked so hard to get where I am, and I don’t have any intentions of stopping. I would like to become a principal dancer someday. I would like to continue to be with a company that encourages me to constantly keep growing and challenges me on a daily basis with different choreography and different repertoire. I just really hope I, as a dancer, will help inspire a younger generation.

The Voice: What about modeling?

Cavaco: I would just love to continue doing what I’m doing, but on a bigger and broader spectrum. I don’t want the art form to die off. This is a big reason why I promote ballet through my social media and through pictures, because I want people to see the art form and to want to go see a ballet company.