Kilbourne is home to many talented students, and Lydia Van Winkle is one of the most gifted performers within its walls. She is a junior who sings with the Kilbourne Singers, performs in the school’s musicals, takes voice lessons, attends dance class, directs, and is a part of many performing arts clubs outside of school, all because of her deep love for the arts and determination to pursue them in the future.
“I first started dancing at Dublin Dance when I was three, and I was there for ten years,” shares Van Winkle. She jumped from program to program to learn as much as she could without bounds. At ten years old, while still in dance, she started theatre programs, and for about two years, she balanced both but found a greater pull to acting, so she left Dublin Dance and turned her main focus to theatre. Though Van Winkle is now back to balancing it all with attending dance lessons again, as well as school and her other programs, though her heart beats for only one of them.
“Singing is my favourite of the arts I do. I do it so much, and I grew up on music, so it’s a big part of my family and me.”
Van Winkle explains. She is not only part of Kilbourne Singers, the highest level choir within the school, but also is in a choir outside of Kilbourne, as well as taking voice lessons every week. She’s participated in countless competitions and showcases, and with so much practice, she no longer gets nervous, but that wasn’t always the case. “When I started, I was shaking in my boots every time I had to audition or perform. I think the more you do it, the more you get used to being in front of people. The main thing I always tell people is to have fun; the arts are supposed to be fun, not intimidating.” Van Winkle provides. With so many years of practice, she has had plenty of time to find what works for her and how fun the arts can truly be when you relax and enjoy yourself, making the audience enjoy the performance just as much.
Her latest performance was Kilbournes ‘Little Women”, which was in the commons because of construction, a new experience for Van Winkle. “The scariest part is usually when you’re on stage, the lights blind you so you can’t see anyone. This was not the case for Little Women; you could see everyone staring at you. It was more intimate in that way”. Not only was the idea of performing in the commons daunting, but Van Winkle had croup, a respiratory infection that leads to swelling in the throat and intense coughing, the week before the show. “I was losing my voice. I had taken a lot of cold medicine and a lot of cough drops.” Though she feels it wasn’t her best performance, she is still incredibly proud of herself and everyone involved with the play for how it came out. “Closing night was my best, in my opinion, because I had done a lot to get my voice prepared for that one. It was a great performance and everybody did so well,”.
Van Winkle is not only involved in Kilbournes’ play but also Perry Middle School’s, as she directs, choreographs, and is
a vocal coach for them. She helped in their rendition of Mean Girls as well as their current musical, Suesical the Musical.
It would seem as though Van Winkle never stops, but what helps motivate such determination? “I’m always inspired by my vocal coach because she has such a strong work ethic, and she’s so incredibly talented in all aspects. She is exactly what I want to be in the future; she’s just an amazing person, and I also just really want to be an amazing person,” Van Winkle confides. She also has Broadway inspiration from performers like Jack Wolfe, who starred in Next to Normal on the West End and plays Orpheus in Hadestown. “He is so talented, and I aspire to be like that.”
Van Winkle’s future career opportunities are vast and diverse. ” My main course of action right now is to go to college for musical theatre and get a BFA, which is a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Then, possibly some classical stuff like opera, but it all really depends on where I go and what programs they offer,” She hopes to go to Texas State, though she is wary because of the distance, but tuition for musical theatre students is free, and they offer many interesting programs. Van Winkle still has a year at Kilbourne to continue to leave her mark in the arts and share her overflowing talent with the student body. Her future after Kilbourne, while unknown, one can only imagine how far she will go with her determination and talent, probably to a Broadway stage.
