Ballerina, Reality Star

Photography by Erik Ostling

Before “Breaking Pointe,” Beckanne Sisk’s life was pretty straightforward: breakfast (fried eggs and a coffee), an hour and 15 minutes of warming up (“mostly sitting in a split and talking”), an hour and a half company class, two to six hours of rehearsal, possibly a performance, then home. Being cast in the reality show didn’t change her routine, but it had an impact on her approach. “Everything you say and do matters more all of a sudden,” she says. “It actually motivated me in my dancing because I knew there were constantly thousands of eyes on me.” Sisk admits the first season was a challenge. “I did watch the show when it aired, mostly with my eyes closed,” she says. “I came across a little ditzy.” But the second season, which premieres July 29, felt even riskier as the cameras followed her home: “It’s my personal life as well as my career this time. I’m really nervous about it. They were there every day for 10 weeks, and they saw everything.” For Sisk’s fans—whose numbers have skyrocketed since the show began—that can only be a good thing.