User Profile

___novemberheat

Estelle Marie Volaju was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on November 11th, 1986, and lived there until the fall of 1990. She was born to Sidney Volaju, a university Literature professor, and Michelle Volaju, a ballet teacher. Estelle and her four older brothers, Michael, Christopher, and Damien, studied ballet with their mother until her death in 1990 from ovarian cancer. Estelle was five years old. Later that year, Sidney moved the family to Evanston, Illinois when he got a job at Northwestern University teaching French Literature. While her brothers dropped out of dance, Estelle continued to train.

Growing up with three older brothers brought out an impish and tomboyish side in Estelle. She was often picked on in school for being smaller than everyone else, but could hold her own in a fist fight, as it was soon proved. Her father was always being pulled into the office because his daughter had given another grade schooler a fat lip. Her father threatened to take ballet away from her if she didn't clean up her act, which prompted Estelle to clean up her act.

Her brothers influenced Estelle culture intake as well, introducing her to a plethora of bands, artists, movies, books, and authors that, in their opinion, everyone should be familiar with. Because of this, Estelle is a bit of an aristocrat when it comes to pop culture trivia knowledge. It wouldn't be wise to get her started, because she can be long winded and will talk for hours and hours about how Hunter S. Thompson changed the face of journalism as we know it.

Throughout high school, Estelle focused on her dancing, and was even invited to join a dance company in Chicago. Although she does want to join a company one day, she decided to hold of on joining a company before she had a degree. After looking at several different schools, Estelle auditioned for The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She fell in love with Philly, and was overjoyed when she received her acceptance letter.

With the support of her family and friends, Estelle made the huge transition from The Second City to The City of Brotherly Love. After living in the dorms for two years, and taking odd jobs on campus, Estelle moved into a two bedroom apartment in Independence Cove. She will graduate in May 2008 with a BFA in Dance Education.