Many people reading this article may be asking, “Who is Carol Borgmann?” As the Director of Major and Planned Giving, her role at Lakeside may not be the most student-facing, but it is an integral part of keeping Lakeside running behind the scenes. However, her journey into the fundraising world was never a straight path — she actually never thought she would be working in this field. But her journey comes with lessons we can all learn from as we head into our own futures.
“At the heart of my identity, I’m a dancer,” said Carol Borgmann, and her story truly does revolve around her passion for dancing. She started dancing at the age of five because that’s what all her friends were doing at the time, but she was the only one who stuck with it. Dance quickly became her life, and she spent countless hours in the studio working hard every day. She fell in love with the art of ballet because “it has been the strong foundation for all the other dance forms I’ve had a chance to do.” Her dedication and love for dance made her determined at a young age to dance professionally.
At the age of 15, she started auditioning for prestigious professional ballet companies like American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet. The ballet industry is infamous for having a certain aesthetic that usually involves a slim and petite structure, perfectly slicked-back hair, and pointed feet. “I didn’t fit that aesthetic necessarily… I wasn’t the right body type,” shared Borgmann. Ballet is often an art that strives for something unachievable: perfection. Many ballet companies believe that their dancers need to look the same and have the same body type to create a flawless and cohesive “look” on stage. This fixation on perfectionism creates rigorous body standards in the ballet world that can prevent a talented ballerina from going on to the elite levels of ballet. “Company after company, I wouldn’t get offered a position because I wasn’t the right body type.”
Facing these setbacks took a toll on Borgmann as she realized that her dreams may not be able to become a reality. Looking back, she realized that, “What I needed to recognize or learn is that, okay, the ballet world — I love it. And it doesn’t necessarily love me.” Her entire life was spent working towards the goal of becoming a ballerina, but her dreams were hindered by something out of her control. For many dancers, this situation may have been a breaking point for them where they would have lost their spark and love for the art. But for Borgmann, this was a turning point; she knew she needed to find a way to contribute to her beloved dance world in her own way.
This is how her life’s passion, Spectrum Dance Theatre, was founded. She teamed up with a few fellow “ballet renegade” friends in 1982 and bought a bankrupt dance studio in hopes of turning it into a company with high-level dance instruction for all people of different social, cultural, ethnic and economic backgrounds. At the same time, she started dipping her toes into the fundraising world, working in the development office at Pacific Northwest Ballet to help raise money for the Swan Lake production she was part of. From then on, ballet and fundraising became a parallel dance; when she wasn’t dancing, choreographing, or directing at Spectrum Dance, she was fundraising and working to be able to support herself. Her hard work every day paid off, and Spectrum Dance Center started growing. Spectrum went from a group of dancers who danced for free to a company that sold out big shows, gave all of their dancers contracts, and offered classes for all ages and all areas of dance. Even after her retirement from Spectrum Dance in 2002, it remained a huge success, offering 64 classes a week to 500 students and being one of the leaders in contemporary dance in the Pacific Northwest.
Shortly after, she joined the Lakeside Major and Planned Giving Department in 2004 and has grown to become the director over the span of her 21 years here.
Borgmann’s journey is a true example of how life doesn’t always go as planned, but one can still find ways to be successful. Many Lakeside students have the idea of a “right path” for them to take, a set road to success. Having dreams and setting goals is great, but there will be times in life where we face setbacks and those certain goals and dreams may not be fulfilled. But it’s important to know that life doesn’t end there, and with resilience and hard work, you can use those setbacks to grow and find your own way to success.
