For those in books or ballet, the new year never really begins January 1st. Indeed, New Year’s Eve feels more like an encore finale or cast party after San Diego Ballet’s (outrageously successful) Nutcracker run. We celebrate our holidays quickly, leaping back into rehearsal before too long. Why? Because (there’s no rest for the wicked, and) the end of the calendar year is actually the very middle of our dancing season. (Ballet not playing by the rules? Artists dancing to a different tune, or time? Typical. We’ll sleep when we’re dead.)
The end of our year stretches luxuriously across the beautiful summer months, leaving time enough to bum around the beach, put in overtime with more pedestrian jobs, explore our other passions, nurture new interests, trot the globe, get a dramatic haircut, sleep in. Soon, though, our dancing legs get restless. Soon, it’s the end of August and we privately wonder whether we can still do a plie. We get anxious, existential. (Am I even a dancer anymore?) We make our resolutions in late September, our fresh start, our new year.
The first day of your first season is very much like your first day at school. Same simple concerns –Will the other kids like me? Will I do well in class? – and identical butterflies embodying all your hope and potential. A new season, a new year. Newness is, after all, just an opportunity to fall (more) in love. With ballet, with movement, with performing, with friendship. This is my third year calling the San Diego Ballet my home, and I still shivered with first-day-flutters.
Cheers to this season! This year, like every year, will be what we make of it.
Captivate your happiness, take care of each other. Keep giving, and allow yourself to be moved.
Introducing our newest darlings, SDB newbies!
Steffi Carter
Photo: Noriko Zaragoza
Jesus Arroyo
Spain
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
Reggae, salsa.
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
Arabesque. A good long and defined line can define it all.
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
Armand from Marguerite and Armand.
What do you wish the audience knew?
The hard work put into it.
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
I can speak fluently eight languages, and currently learning my ninth one.
Rachel Banta
Anza, California
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
Most music makes me want to dance! I come from a family of musicians so I grew up around a variety of genres. If I had to choose just a few… oldies rock (Scorpions, Journey, etc.) and orchestrated instrumental music/
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
Grand jeté? I think it’s a pretty free step, if that makes sense, and I tend to be a pretty free-spirited person.
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
Sometime in the far (very far) future, I would love to perform Kitri (in Don Quixote).
What do you wish the audience knew?
I wish the audience knew the storylines behind ballets (especially the classics). I feel like so many audience members don’t fully know the stories, which makes it harder to appreciate the ballet.
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
I don’t know that I would necessarily call it “hidden”, but I can play piano. My mom is a pianist and she made sure that as soon as I turned five I started learning. Soon after, I fell in love with it and couldn’t stop.
Donald Davison
Irvine, California
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
I love all kinds of music, but lately rap and R&B music has been making me want to dance, just to dance.
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
I would be a grand battement because like me, the step is a burst of energy.
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
I have always wanted to perform the role of Siegfried in Swan Lake.
What do you wish the audience knew?
I wish the audience had a basic understanding of ballet technique so that they would have more of a perspective on the athleticism of ballet dancers.
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
I have a sketchbook that I enjoy drawing in.
Danielle Dorsch
New York, New York
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
Jason Derulo
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
Any grand allegro, because it feels so freeing.
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
Giselle (from Giselle).
What do you wish the audience knew?
I have just as great a chance of falling off the stage as I do of nailing the variation.
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
I’m a great cook!
Sarah Foley
Denver, Colorado
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
Anything indie-alternative.
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
A saut de chat, because I like to “go big or go home”, haha.
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
Dark Angel, in Serenade.
What do you wish the audience knew?
That half the battle is just dealing with the costumes, the lights, etc… and then we have to dance.
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
I took French for seven years in school, and can still speak a fair amount of it.
Brenda Liu
Taiwan
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
Any kind – but just not soft music.
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
Grand jeté. I like to do big jumps!
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
Odette in Swan Lake. I could never move that soft and elegant.
What do you wish the audience knew?
How much coffee we have before the show.
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
I am an interpreter/translator: Chinese to English, or English to Chinese!
Shela Murphy
Worcester, Massachusetts
What music makes you wanna dance (outside the studio!)?
I don’t dance a whole lot outside of the studio. The last thing I remember dancing to is the Hall & Oates album I have in my car.
If you were a ballet step, what would you be, and why?
Rond de jambes. They’re a little more easy-going and give me time to think about each movement, which is what I attempt to do in real life as well.
Which role have you always wanted (but haven’t yet got) to perform?
There are a lot of different roles I’d like to perform, but the first thing that comes to mind is the Harlequinade doll in The Nutcracker. I always practiced it when I was little.
What do you wish the audience knew?
We’re thinking about what we’re going to have for dinner after the show as much as they are – probably more than they are.
We know you can dance! What’s one of your hidden talents?
I’m good at badminton.