60 minute massage/acupuncture combo with Andrew Castellanos at Stillpoint Wellness Center on Union Street. $115, www.stillpointsf.com

Stillpoint Wellness

Sansha ballet slippers are not only great for ballet class, but they make excellent bohemian chic house slippers. Available at SF Dancewear. $23 www.sfdancewear.com

Sansha ballet slipper

Schedule a 75 minute private lesson in Gyrotonic at SF Gyrotonic to increase strength and flexibilty, enhance coordination or just feel good. $85 www.sfgyrotonic.com

Gyrotonic

Get them some fun and functional legwarmers from American Apparel.  These are a favorite here at SFB and they come in so many colors. $18 www.americanapparel.net

American Apparel legwarmers

Give them inspiration with a gift certifcate to the San Francisco Ballet so they can choose a program that fits their fancy. www.sfballet.org/tickets/giftcertificates

A photo of me taken from backstage, as Spanish in Nutcracker (© Erik Tomasson)

Smart Wool socks are a great stocking stuffer, they last forever! I wear them for barre, traipse around the theater in them and they always keep my feet toasty. Around $20. Get them at www.REI.com, www.sportsbasement.com.

Smart Wool socks

Ballerina cards for dancers and balletomanes from my greeting card company, Modern Rubbish.  Set of 6 cards, $15. http://www.modernrubbish.com/shop/

Modern Rubbish card

Modern Rubbish card

Before Black Swan, there was The Red Shoes. One of my favorite dance movies that I  watch over and over
again, it’s a classic. $26 www.amazon.com

The Red Shoes - a classic!

“Once a Dancer,” a touching autobiography from Balanchine ballerina, Allegra Kent. I curled up and read it in a day; I laughed, I cried and had her autograph it. A must-read for any dancer! $16 www.amazon.com.

Once a Dancer: An Autobiography

Give them the gift of dance. There are great studios around the city offering open classes for adults to give ballet, modern, contemporary, and hip hop a try. Try Alonzo King LINES Dance Center www.linesballet.org, or City Ballet School www.cityballetschool.org or ODC dance school at www.odcdance.org.

However, we knew sitting around a pool all day would never jive with our active nature so we filled our days with snorkeling, swimming, and boogie boarding. We explored both coasts of the Baja Peninsula, and drove on gravel roads for miles to find the most majestic, desolate beaches.  We had the thrill of catching a wave on a boogie board and swimming out in the ocean to find a beautiful coral reef with brightly colored fish. We’d finish each day eating at the most authentic restaurant we could find, and return to our hotel at night, compare sunburns, and plan our adventures for the next day.

Now that we’re back to work, our tans have faded and all we have is pictures of us in snorkel gear to give us a laugh. I’ve realized that dancers rarely talk about the friendships and relationships you build with your fellow company members. Often, those outside SF Ballet hear about the competitive nature of professional dance, or someone’s personal path in a dance company, but the bonds you form with fellow dancers is unique; we are in the trenches together working through physical and mental fatigue to do something we all truly love. 

Many of us left home at a young age and are unable to be there for the holidays because of our schedule, so your fellow dancers become your family. The Cabo locals had a hard time figuring us out: two Spaniards, a Chinese-Canadian and an American–they didn’t know what language to speak to us in and we didn’t try to explain. Though we come from all over the world, with different traditions and beliefs, the art form has brought us together and has given us the opportunity to learn from each other and build these special relationships. 

I think that when I’m no longer dancing, I’ll miss these friendships the most: the times of difficulty and craziness spent together in the studios, backstage and on stage; they truly are one of a kind, and of course, I’ll miss the time Fran, Jaime, Dores, and I conquered Cabo San Lucas.

This year, instead of ballet nightmares I’m having business nightmares. I’m now suffering from business paranoia thanks to a greeting card company I started this past fall, Modern Rubbish.  I’m not really sure when the idea came to fruition. It’s like when people ask me, “When did you know you wanted to be a dancer?” and I can never pinpoint the exact time or moment it dawned on me; it was a morsel of an idea that evolved over time and slowly became a reality. Modern Rubbish is the same way. I guess you could say it started with my first journal.

I’ve always enjoyed writing, maybe it has something to do with being an only child and having to keep myself occupied. Or perhaps it started with the first homemade card I made for a friend on her birthday. Anyhow, along the way I got the idea to take lines from my teenage journals, filled with dramatic angst and bad poetry, and make cards. I collaborated with local San Francisco artist Peter Dimick to illustrate the cards. I’m not going to lie, he thought the idea of dark humored greeting cards was not my best idea but he’s also my longtime boyfriend, so he had to humor me. We sat down one night, he sketched and I wrote, and soon we were laughing at our creations.

Thus far it’s been an adventure!  Everyone at the ballet has been so supportive and truly instrumental in helping me get this off the ground. The dancers, crew, and administration were my first customers. Quinn Wharton taught me the ropes in editing software and is currently photographing the cards. Garen Scribner and I joked about setting up shop backstage during the Nutcracker because I was filling out his order during one of the performances. On Christmas, I had Elana Altman over for dinner and delegated her to card folding duty. Of course, I knew she would be an excellent folder due to her attention to detail.

Initially I worried about dividing my attention between dancing and running a company, but I’ve actually found it to fuel my fire. I throw myself into working on the cards and after a few hours, I seek the escape dancing provides me.  I feel more balanced and focused even though I’m running to meet store owners in between rehearsals with a bun in my hair.  I find inspiration in the little happenings around me at work and bounce ideas off my fellow dancers.  I have found similarities between the dance world and the business world: there is no short path to success.

For a dancer, it begins every morning when you stand at the barre, it requires dedication and hard work to mold yourself into a professional.  When I started my company, I thought the crowds would flock to buy my quirky cards, but now I find myself everyday trying to get the word out and learn how to successfully run a business.  It’s a long road ahead of me but I reckon I’ll be fine: the dancer in me is always up for the challenge.

This past week, as I sat in the theater watching the dress rehearsals for Fokine’s Petrouchka, I was once again reminded of the glory of the old theater. The ornate costumes, hand-painted sets and scrims, dramatic makeup and the odd, eccentric story of the production caused a stirring of nostalgia. This was created at a time when the ballet was full of drama, when Picasso and Matisse painted the sets. It’s fun to see the Opera House stage so transformed. There are supers crowding the stage and during the street scene there are 102 people onstage. The production is full of all kinds of colorful characters: gypsies, coachmen, street dancers, nursemaids and of course, the dolls: Petrouchka, the Ballerina, and the Moor.

Clara Blanco in the role of the Ballerina in Petrouchka

Nowadays, the focus of many new works is the dancing. Balanchine stripped away the sets and costumes, revolutionizing the dance world with his plotless ballets. On this same program, we are dancing in the middle, somewhat elevated by William Forsythe who has been heavily influenced by Balanchine. He took the Balanchine ideal even further by removing the wings of the stage and the theatrical lighting. The dancers only wear leotards and tights, and are dancing in highly stylized, rhythmic patterns. The focus is on the bodies, the movement, and the technical feats of the dancers. There is no story to tell or emotions to convey, only dancing.

Though, I love dancing these new, technically challenging works by great choreographers, I must admit that I have a romantic feeling about the old works, and the idea of what ballet used to be (the glamorous makeup and the highly dramatic stories). Even the patrons would show-up dressed to impress: women in their gloves and stoles, fans with opera glasses in hand; men smoking hand-rolled cigarettes and slicked hair–all for an evening at the ballet.

Anyhow, I invite you all to come to the wonderfully diverse Program 4. It is such a fun journey to see where we came from and where we are going. And, if you feel like it, why not pull out your evening gowns and tuxedos? What a glamorous life we live at the ballet!

In addition to Nutcracker, we have begun refreshing Yuri Possokhov’s Diving Into The Lilacs.  The fun thing about bringing back Yuri’s ballet is that while we are remembering the steps, he is in the studio tweaking them. There is a satisfaction in constantly working on the ballets with him, finding solutions, or finding a better understanding of the motivation behind his steps.  He always demonstrates what he wants clearly, but I must admit some of his movements can be hard to transfer to our bodies.  It’s obvious why he was a celebrated principal here.

Charlene Cohen, Dores Andre, and Clara Blanco in Possokhov's Diving into the Lilacs, last year (© Erik Tomasson)

We also have a new face around the studios: choreographer Renato Zanella.  He comes into the studio with a clear vision.  He explained the storyline or thought behind his new work, and he already had a clear design for the set, lighting, and costumes.  The movement is truly a language in his piece; every step seems to be saying something, or telling a story.  It’s a ballet I look forward to seeing on the stage!

Well, I would say more, but I am off to enjoy these last few hours of my Sunday before we’re back to work in the studios on Monday morning!

Elana Altman, Mariellen Olson, Danielle Santos, and Erin McNulty... how many guidebooks does it take to get around Shanghai? Three, apparently!

As our workload was light for the first two days after our arrival, we’ve been off exploring the sights, shopping, and discovering new culinary delights. The dim sum has been my favorite thus far, though the breakfast spread our hotel provides is in close second. It’s become standard to exchange stories with one another about our finds for the day. Most of the Company, especially the men, have visited the tailor to have custom suits made. We’re all working on our bargaining skills and bragging to each other about who got the best deal and their method of choice. So, we’re all healthy, happy, and relishing the opportunity to experience Shanghai firsthand.

Danielle tries to pick out (and find) our next haggling destination.

Keep your fingers crossed and wish us “Merde” as we offer up our own cultural experience to Shanghai tonight!

My first opportunity to work with Chris was as a student at the School of American Ballet. He choreographed a ballet called Scénes de Ballet using students from all levels in the school, from beginning to advanced. The set was reminiscent of an old Russian ballet classroom with a ballet barre running diagonally down the stage. The dancers are divided into “real dancers” and their reflections on the other side of the barre, where the mirror would be in a typical ballet studio. The ballet was a great success and so exciting to be a part of; Chris was a choreographer to watch for in the future.

Now, with one week left to finish Ghosts, it will be sad to see him go. He doesn’t sit in a chair and direct, he’s right along with us, dancing every step, and doing it better in jeans and socks. He works fast and before you know it, three hours of rehearsal have flown by. His sense of humor makes the rehearsal a very non-threatening atmosphere; we’re all joined together in the same cause, sharing a laugh along the way. It’s interesting to be witness to the creation of a ballet. Steps work and sometimes they don’t. He’ll rework them, continually honing them until they are satisfactory. Tableaus are created and he’ll add dancers to create a different effect. Great steps become themes of the piece and are repeated throughout, setting the tone of the work. In creating a ballet, a choreographer begins with a blank canvas, and over time layers it with different textures and colors, until it becomes a finished piece.

These opportunities are truly once in a lifetime experiences, and cherished by dancers and choreographers alike. We are evolving our art-form, one ballet at a time.

Charlene Cohen in rehearsal (© Erik Tomasson)