A welcome back to our veteran dancers – With our 2015 Fall performance completed, third year SDB dancer, Steffi Carter, shares some interesting tidbits about a few of our veteran dancers. More to come!
I think you must love the idea of doing the impossible to keep coming back to the studio, to keep placing your hand on the barre for that first plié of the day. We have a unique relationship to our craft because it doubles as our relationship to ourselves. Dancers play the part of both the paint and the painter. We are both marble and Michelangelo. We make ballet, and we are ballet. Our gift is our self, which is both delightful and devastating. On one hand, it’s being directly plugged into pure joy; on the other hand, when our art is not needed or not wanted, we are unneeded and unwanted. This is incredibly difficult not to take personally because it’s not separate for us. Rejection and failure hurt a different way.
People seem more aware of this now, more appreciative. There is this trend in playing up the sweat and tears of ballerinas, and my inner seven year old self is thrilled that this aspect is in the limelight because back when I was seven, ballet wasn’t cool. It embodied everything frilly, silly, easy. It’s different now. Ballet is cool! Athletic, respectable, deep, complicated. Natalie Portman, Misty Copeland, Sergei Polunin with Hozier’s Take Me to Church, that TV show I haven’t yet seen Flesh and Bone. But last time I checked, we don’t do ballet because we enjoy blistering and bleeding. The pain should be understood, but I don’t want to talk as much as we do about the pain because the pain is not the point.
We are artists, not masochists. We are warriors, not martyrs. We are gladiators in tutus! We seek glory, and glamour! Not a pat on the back or a Purple Heart. We love the struggle, relish in the challenge, crave effortless perfection. Ballet is hard. But we don’t whine when the music is swift or the lighting is cruel or the choreography is unforgiving. It does take bravery to take your place at barre, but you don’t keep coming back to work just to hear applause. We step into the studio every day because, even offstage, dancing makes us happy.
It is far too easy to forget that you love the thing you love. Don’t forget that you love to dance.
Welcome back, darlings! Welcome back to our strange and exquisite edge of the universe. It takes hard work to earn your keep here, and that work is never ever over. But let me tell you what you already know: It is great, grand fun.
Camille McPherson
San Diego, CA
Fourth Season with SDB
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
I like a lot of different kinds of music, so it really depends on my mood. It’s hard to keep still to anything with a great groove, though.
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
A develope, because I like adagio.
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
I love William Forsythe’s In the middle and somewhat elevated. I would love to dance any part in that ballet.
What do you wish the audience knew?
How little rehearsal time we’ve had. We work quickly as a company, and I think the audience would be surprised by how speedily the productions often come together.
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
I’m a devout chocoholic and a really good baker.
Caitlyn Sullivan
Chicago, IL
Second Season with SDB
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
Pop-rock, dance-rock.
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
Waltz step – it’s the most expressive.
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
Anything in a Twyla Tharp ballet.
What do you wish the audience knew?
That it’s okay to react. We love it when the audience claps, cheers, laughs, etc.
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
I can waterski.
Matt Carney
St Louis, Missouri
Seventh Season with SDB
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
Chopin, R&B, Funk.
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
Pas de chat. Always ready to pounce. Meow!
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
In my dreams, Spartacus (Spartacus). In reality, Evil Step Sister in Cinderella.
What do you wish the audience knew?
Their role is paramount to what we do. Laugh, cry, clap, hoot and holler… let us know you’re out there.
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
I <3 producing. Love seeing all of the pieces come together!
Steffi Carter
San Marcos, CA
Third Season with SDB
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
Can’t sit still to anything with a Latin beat! Love my electronic junk, Jess Glynne, 40s jazz standards, Mumford and Sons.
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
Renversé: Literally to overthrow, to overturn, to upset. Renversés are unusual, a bit off balance around a rarer rotation axis. It sounds rebellious, looks luxurious, and feels, I assure you, sensational.
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
Honestly, I’ve been very fortunate in casting and have had the opportunity to perform most everything I’ve ever wanted. The exceptions are simple, like Snow Queen (The Nutcracker). I’m also a sucker for Swan Lake, and could see myself as something like Cleopatra, or Peter Pan. Would love the chance to be trusted with more classical roles, and could bring something deep to more complex characters.
What do you wish the audience knew?
The story! And that ballet and ballerinas are totally relatable. I think people get it into their heads that ballet is hopelessly foreign and old-fashioned, and ballerinas are snobby or masochistically seeking perfection. We can be those things, but we’re so many other things. And in the end, we’re just people telling stories. Can you dig it?
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
My first love was drawing! Before writing, before choreography, before dancing at all. I have won awards and competitions for visual art, and have had work displayed in exhibits at Balboa Park.
Appie Peterson
St Louis, Missouri
Second Season with SDB
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
All music! Mostly rap or hip-hop. Nelly, Tech Nane, lil Wayne.
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
Fondue, because I love the idea of a smooth, melty movement backed by strength and resistance.
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
So many, but I always relate more to the villains because I feel like they are underrepresented. Gamzatti, Myrtha, Carabosse.
What do you wish the audience knew?
That we are aware of them, and do this for the singular connection that happens when we dance and someone watches. You can take a video or a picture, but the magic happens when you sit there and experience the transformations.
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
I have an infatuation with languages. I speak a little Mandarin and Spanish, but I love learning new ways to communicate with you.