My favorite dance

One of my adult students asked what my favorite dance to perform was. I didn’t have many starring roles in my career, but the first dance that came to mind was Con Amore. It’s a dance by Lew Christensen, one of the founding fathers of ballet in the West. It’s a silly dance about Amazons, thieves, and a wife with too many suitors. I was fortunate to play two roles in this dance, the Sailor and the Thief. I received many compliments as the Sailor. Someone even said I reminded them of Gene Kelley (he was my idol, so I was over the moon). The Thief was my first solo outside of The Nutcracker and I’ve I done many solos in The Nutcracker. I loved every second of it from the nerves before the curtain to the post performance talk in the lobby. I’ve been in some great works including Serenade and Allegro Brillante by Balanchine, Double Contrasts and Unknown Territory by Choo-San Goh, and many others, but that one holds a special place for me.