Arts Alive San Antonio

• By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor –

How does it feel to be the star of an original new production?
It’s very exciting; I feel very honored.  I was rather surprised when Mr. Enos (the guest choreographer) picked me because the role is somewhat out of my norm. This ballet has a lot of flowing, fluid movements and I am usually the jumper-turner, so, yes. I was surprised but it has been a really fun process. I am nervous, but a good nervous, excited!

As a child, were you a fan of the story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?
It was one of my favorite stories! So much happens in the story, there are so many ways to take it. It’s fun for me to portray someone so young though the age is not specified in the ballet. Mr. Enos left it to me and Sofie (Bertolini, who will also dance the part) to decide for ourselves in which direction we wanted to take it. In the book, Alice is only seven. We play her a little older but still young enough to be wowed by the world and able to appreciate the wonder of it.

What inspired you to choose ballet as a career?
I had a real hard time walking as a young child; I didn’t walk until I was almost two. I had a babysitter who took ballet classes and I saw a video of Isadora Duncan when I was very young. I liked how the dancers moved their arms, so I tried to do the same all the time. My babysitter would do port-de-bras with me and demonstrate other moves. As a result, my first actual steps were dance steps. One day, I got up and I did a chassé, and my parents were shocked. So, they put me in ballet class when I was four, which was the youngest age (for ballet school admission.) Since then, I have never had another dream; I always wanted to dance.

Ballet San Antonio has been using different guest choreographers lately. Is that beneficial for you as a dancer?
Yes, it’s good to try lots of different things and different styles. You never get bored. Going from something like Alice in Wonderland to The Nutcracker to Romeo and Juliet, those are three completely different styles of movement. So, it keeps you very interested and you meet wonderful people (choreographers, ballet masters) who have a lot to teach you.

You have been in San Antonio for five years. What do you like most about our city?
The people. I lived in Chicago for three years and in New York for a while because I was with two different companies over there, and what amazes me about San Antonio is how open and friendly people are. It’s not uncommon to walk down the street and someone goes “Hey, have a great day!” I love that. I grew up in a small town and that’s very familiar to me and it makes me feel at home.

How do you replenish your physical and emotional batteries?
Uh, great question… I do like quiet time; I meditate every day. I also love to cook. I think cooking a big, healthy meal is really important. I like going home and preparing an elaborate dinner. The process helps me wind down from the day and then I get this delicious meal at the end.

Which qualities do you appreciate in other people and which ones you dislike?
Kindness and compassion, the ability to look at someone else and put yourself in their shoes, trying to empathize. What annoys me the most is when people don’t try to do that.

Do you have a role model in the ballet world, a ballerina that you greatly admire?
Marianela Nunez, with the Royal Ballet, she’s probably my favorite ballerina of all time. I like Sara Mearns as well, and also Tiler Peck and Ashley Bouder (with York City Ballet), but Marianela is so precise and expressive… When she walks on stage, you are drawn to her, like her presence is so amazing. She’s definitely my role model.

Who has influenced your life the most, professionally or otherwise?
Probably my parents. My mother got very sick when I was about 15. I think having a woman in my life who fought such difficult battles with such strength and poise has taught me an important lesson. If my mother could do that, then I could do anything.

What is the most unusual gift you have ever received?
My favorite gifts are letters. Several times I received letters from (dancing) partners that were very personal, referring to the process that we have been through together; that’s probably the most touching gift. We call them merde notes, like good-luck notes. (equivalent to “break-a-leg) But the most surprising gift was when I found out I had been accepted to the Joffrey Academy of Dance in Chicago. I didn’t expect it, so I was very surprised (laughs).

Where do you like to shop in San Antonio?
I love thrift stores. There’s one close to my house called the Buffalo Exchange where I like to find little knick-knacks that you just wouldn’t find anywhere else. Antique stores, too.

How do people who don’t know you respond when you tell them you are ballerina?
Usually with surprise. My dad has a joke – he calls us unicorns, like we are mythical creatures. People sometimes ask, “Is that a real thing? It happens more often here where we don’t have as many professional dancers as, for example, in New York City, where you have four or five ballet companies and people go to the ballet all the time. Then, they usually have a lot of questions.

How is it performing at the Tobin Center?
It’s a dream! Everybody who works there is so experienced and so helpful. And the air of the whole building…  when you take your first step on that stage and look out into the audience, you feel like a ballerina.

Alice in Wonderland, presented by Ballet San Antonio, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle; Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m., Oct.19 at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Oct.20 at 2 p.m.; tickets $24.50-$114 at the box office, by phone 210-223-8624 or www.tobincenter.org