From A Few of Our Company Dancers
Kate Loxtercamp
Photographer: Ron Brewer Images
A performance that will always have a special place in my heart is dancing Tall Swans in Ballet Arizona’s Swan Lake. I was still a Trainee in the Company and it was one of the first Demi-soloist roles I’d gotten to do. It was also my first time performing Swan Lake, which has been my favorite ballet since I saw ABT perform it when I was 15. Growing up in a small town in the Midwest I didn’t have easy access to live professional performance and it was the first time I had seen a full length ballet. I was enamored. Having the opportunity to be on the other side and help create that magic and beauty on stage was both a very sentimental and hopeful moment for me. I felt like I was living my childhood dream. It made me extremely proud of everything I had done to get to this point, and at the same time I felt inspired to work harder and keep improving my dance to bring even more of my dreams to fruition.
More recently, performing Nayon Iovino’s Tierre de Angeles, was a particularly personal experience for me. It was choreographed in memory of my good friend and fellow dancer Colleen, and the choreographic process as well as rehearsing and performing was healing in a way that I can’t really describe. I think the entire company was able to come together and grieve individually but still as one. The energy on stage was unlike anything I’d experienced before; immensely honest and raw. It was the first time on stage where I was entirely unaware of the audience and it is a performance I will always keep with me.
Cheyenne You
Performing to me is always so special and exciting so it is hard to choose just one! One of them would definitely have to be performing Juan Gabriel. Those shows were unlike any I had ever participated in before. I had never heard such joy and excitement coming from the audience. When they would sing or clap along it created such an incredible and happy atmosphere that made dancing the ballet even more enjoyable. I also really enjoyed the costumes and projections that were incorporated into the ballet. It transformed symphony hall into a kaleidoscope of colors.
The rehearsal process for Juan Gabriel was also something that I hadn’t experienced before. It was the first time that I had been apart of the creation of a ballet from start to finish. It was so insightful and wonderful to be able to watch our director Ib Anderson create this incredible ballet from scratch day to day. It was certainly a long process that spanned about eight months but it was also a rewarding one.
If I had to choose my favorite role I have ever done however it would probably have to be performing Marzipan this past Nutcracker. As a little girl watching Ballet Arizona’s Nutcracker I had always dreamed of being able to twirl in those candy cane tutus and dance in those special black pointe shoes. Performing Marzipan was quite literally a dream come true. I had some of the most fun I have ever had performing and to be able to dance with company members that I have looked up to for forever, it was just unreal.
