Backstage with Hannah: Casanova is coming…

Well, we’re in the throes of Casanova (T minus 8 days to opening night).  And ohmygoodness, this is FUN.

As a dancer and co-choreographer/producer, I’m feeling beautifully steeped in this decadent era (18th-century Venice).  It’s just so full.  

The words: In the process of creating this new ballet, Donna and I have been reading biographies of Giacomo Casanova—as well as his own writings, of course.  (Aside: Cad, yes—as mum says, “sometimes I feel like I need to take a shower after I read this stuff!”—but the man was a charming and intelligent writer.  In fact, some of his lines were just so good that they inspired us to add a bit of narration in the “voice of Casanova” to the ballet, threading through his misadventures.)  We’ve been reading about Venetian customs and Carnival, and dear friend and history buff Genna Speer also insisted that I read a slim little novel by Georgette Heyer, Powder and Patch, to pick up on some playful period details (highly recommended to our more serious audience members).

The music: We’ve been listening to endless concerti, both from composers we already knew and loved (e.g., the prolific Venetian Vivaldi is of course key to our ballet), and from those we were less familiar with, like Jean-Philippe Rameau.  Underpinning every decision was to choose music that would sound familiar, that would resonate, but that wouldn’t sound too familiar.  THERE IS NO RITZ CARLTON ELEVATOR MUSIC IN THIS BALLET.  A bit of my favorite discoveries: We stumbled in a You Tube search across this AWESOME version of his “Rondeau des Indes Galantes” by the Louvre Symphony Orchestra with authentic period instruments (WATCH—it rocks).  And some darn beautiful stuff that won’t make it into this ballet (e.g., the piano duo Anderson and Roe’s haunting arrangement of Vivaldi’s “Sento in seno ch’in pioggia di lagrime”/”A rain of tears“—if you haven’t listened to it yet, do), but that we’re filing away for a later project.  Even now, with our ballet score long-chosen, I’m listening to baroque music incessantly (e.g., literally right now), since I’m a snob about having perfect intermission music.  In short, the music from this era and from our Casanova score alike are so gorgeous that I can’t stop listening.  You just can’t get sick of it.  The downside is that this is our one ballet this season without live music, but the upside is that it would be a little hard to get the Louvre Orchestra or four harpsichords on stage at the Soreng; the experience we’re building is a total immersion in how stunningly lovely—and genius—music was during this time.

See the rounded shape of Alanna’s arm in this shot from Giovanni Bruni’s pas de deux with Paulina (Casanova has just swooped in and is plotting his next move.)  Photo: Steph Urso Photography

The movement: We’ve been studying baroque dance steps and watching authentic re-stagings of early ballet movement (recommended: Le Roi Danse).  We’ve enlisted the help of a number of experienced fencers for our dance-duel scenes with single rapier.  (Yes, I have BRUISES—this stuff is hard.)  Donna and I are fiercely committed to challenging the company to have exquisitely nuanced musicality and especially arms and hands, and she’s making explicit decisions about some of the aesthetics, for example, there is very little traditional elongee in Casanova (where the dancer extends his/her arm, palm down); instead, she’s having us invert all of these shapes with palms up in a more traditional baroque style.  There are cabrioles up the wazoo (this step was a big deal back then), and we don’t use as much epaulement with our feet, though there’s lots with our upper body.  The movement has twist and is all about arms, so as a dancer, my body is LOVING it.

Ok, so we probably can’t get this kind of height, bu the idea is what we’re going for…

The costumes/set: Then, there’s the costumes…we’ve been studying fashion of the time (see our Casanova Pinterest page to peruse the designers’ inspiration board).  The costumes are maybe the most gorgeous we’ve ever created (see a sneak peek on our Facebook page)—they are  a contemporary spin on “baroque.”  So, for example, we have these drop-dead cascading lace sleeves that fall from the elbow, but instead of connecting at the shoulder, they’re independent pieces that start at the women’s biceps so that we have more free movement.  Then the skirts are built on a basic tutu from our professional costumer in LA, Primadonna, which we decided to do in ivory as if it’s a petticoat.  Onto these tutu bases, demi-”bustles” are being overlaid, each woman’s slightly different, to get the dramatic curve out at the waist but without a floor-length skirt to get in the way of our dancing.  We’ve been on the hunt in Springfield antique stores for the perfect jewels for Casanova’s women, making our Casanova (Elijah Labay) practice in his wig to make sure that his new ponytail doesn’t get taken off in any of our lifts, and using our hair extensions that were the beehives for Cinderella to build the ladies’ hair higher in a style evocative of baroque, but again, still danceable.  All I can say is bless Allison Ditson, Rita Perini Vance, Katie Liane, and Beth Scott for their incredible, incredible artistry.

In sum, we’ve got gold paint on our hands (furniture that had to get taken up a notch), baroque music in our ears, and Casanova on our mind…

See you next weekend!

CASANOVA TICKETS/INFO

The Dancer Says: 6 Reasons I’m Not Ready to Retire Today, Wednesday Dec. 7, 2011

You’ve prolly heard it, and it’s true: the ballerina’s shelf life is shorter than those of many other careers.  And as we “age” (i.e., approach numbers that don’t start with “2″) we/I find more and more that this sport-art is increasingly hard on our bodies–and accordingly wonder if it’s about time to call it quits and train the Next Generation.

Add to these emotions that Wednesdays are our late night rehearsal night at the studio…

Aside: About Wednesday

Wednesday means that after we work our Normal Person jobs (which we almost universally love, but which do take a lot out of us), we forgo the after-work cocktails with friends or quickie fabulous 20-minute workout at the gym, and instead trek on down to our beautiful studio and get down to business for four hours.  Yes, this is a long time, but it’s never long enough to do what we need to do; Wednesday also means that instead of the regular five or six hours of studio time (including Ms. Donna’s Crazy Hard Class) we have on a normal rehearsal day, we have much less–and we’re tired to boot.  In short, we have a lot to get done in an impossibly short period of time, and we might not always be quite as chipper as we’d like to be whilst this rehearsal occurs. Let’s just say that Wednesday is the kind of day where you get home at 10 pm and you still haven’t decided what you might eat for dinner and you are berating yourself for not having done your dirty dishes that morning or having put away the leotards you just washed, and you decide to eat random things like carrots and pretzels because the thought of standing to cook is absolutely horrifying.  THEN–spoiler alert–if you’re Hannah, you also start freaking out in the midst of your exhaustion about the fact that you have so many things to talk to Donna about: the sets, the costumes, the guest dancers, the press release, yada yada, yada.  Should you sleep so that you can somehow do better tomorrow?  Should you get work done so that you CAN sleep (those middle-of-the-night stress demons can only be cured with iPhone notes about lists)?

And these Wednesday nights, my friends, it is even more important for the Ballerina to remember why she loves what she does.  And even though 15 reasons would be better than six, we’re going to keep it simple.  (This is early practice for what is to become a New Year’s resolution, I am sure.)

The Dancer Says: 6 Reasons I’m Not Ready to Retire Today, Wednesday Dec. 7, 2011

*In no particular order of importance

1) It moves me.  Let’s face it.  After working in service or sitting in a cubicle all day, it’s pretty awesome to whack your body into shape(s).  We’re challenging our brains and our bodies.  It’s pretty unique, and pretty awesome.

2) It keeps me clean. I would probably be one of those slackers who never does laundry (I don’t know WHY I hate it so much!), but it’s Improper to wear the same leotard more than once in a two-week span, so ballet literally gives me an incentive to keep my stuff/myself clean.

3) I get to hang out with some pretty amazing people.  I love these peops.  Instead of retreating into self-loathing related to my inability to maintain control of my to do list, I get to hang out and work hard with my awesomely talented mom, sister, and best friends.  We keep each other honest, and we do laugh a lot.

4) It gives me nice gams.  Supposedly, tights help keep varicose veins at bay.  Since we wear tights all the time, we are likely to keep our legs in good shape.  Right?!

5) See the rain, don’t feel the rain…  I will admit that even though ballet is Crazy Hard, I would really rather be dancing than running, for example, in mud and freezing rain.  Kudos to my marathonning and soccer-playing friends.  I am not among you.

6) I do what I love.  When it all comes down to it, even though this is so often a labor of love, I get to DO WHAT I LOVE.  How many millions of people do not have this privilege?  Yes, I’m tired, but I am also proud and happy of this little ballet company that’s becoming.

I guess I have a few more years left in me.  Good thing, since now it’s Thursday morning. 

Goodnight and thank you so much for your support,
Hannah

It’s Beatrix Potter time!

Here's how you do "mouse hands"

Well, folks, I’m writing at the studio. Wednesdays are our late-night rehearsals, and Ashley and Amelia are working away on what Artistic Director Donna calls “Puddle-Duck,” so I have a brief respite. It gets pretty hilarious sometimes when we step back and think about the fact that we’re scampering and holding tails and paws, and getting corrections like “scamper better into that line,” etc. We’re, like, creating a whole new vocabulary here! (i.e., “scamper” was NOT part of Incendio choreography!) Jemima Puddle Duck and the Foxy-Whiskered Fox is one of my personal favorites in the show; it’s actually so funny that I wish sometimes that the girls didn’t wear masks, since their faces are so hilarious.

Coming this December 2 and 4, Beatrix Potter: Tales for the Holidays is what we’re calling a “bonus concert” this season. This means that it’s not part of our regular concert season of three shows at the Hult Center–it’s an extra on top of these. As a chamber company, BFan doesn’t try to do a Nutcracker (plus Eugene Ballet already does a beautiful one of those here in our city)…but this is sort of our answer to the Nutcracker–a fun, holiday family ballet that may well become standard December fare for us BFanners + fans. Moreover, we’re excited to be producing the first-ever BFan shows at the stunningly-gorgeous and intimate Wildish in Springfield (the last time we were there was our guest appearance with the Oregon Mozart Players in 2008) and the lovely Florence Events theater in Florence later the same weekend. It’s our first-ever tour to Florence, and we’re stoked!

For those who don’t think they know Beatrix Potter, she was a much-beloved writer of children’s stories in the early part of the 20th century. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (danced by yours truly with great abandon and tan pointe shoes) was published in 1902, and after that came all sorts of cute characters that we’re bringing to life on stage.

Yours truly as Peter Rabbit

For a little more behind-the-scenes insight on what’s fun about this ballet, it’s honestly been a bit of a respite from the intensity of generating all-new choreography and a chance to just have fun and relax a bit. Of course, there are challenges (see list below), but it’s nice to recharge a little. We still get the excitement of the performance coming up (and the KIDS ARE SO EXCITED), but with a chance to recharge the choreographic engines. As a choreographer and not just a dancer, I needed this.

But as a dancer, it’s not all a piece of cake. Here are some of my favorite challenges:
–Keeping a straight face whilst rehearsing some silly stuff with our very community-visible windowfront here at City Center for Dance. Specifically: Wiggling my buns with squirrel paws (YES, they are different from mouse paws, believe it or not) as a Squirrel Cousin in the Tale of Squirrel Nutkin as people walk by. Don’t get me wrong–we LOVE our gorgeous new studio, but it does put us on display, and I have a feeling that some of our neighbors are very confused as they walk to the elevator… For example, one gentleman saw fit to wiggle back at us with his own paws the other day, and I have to divulge that rehearsal might have descended into giggles for a bit. We know that we must look pretty nuts. (Bad squirrel pun, sorry!)
–Acting without your face. It’s actually quite a challenge as a dancer–one we don’t often think about–to act with a mask on. So often as a dancer, you (I!) rely on your facial expressions to communicate drama or humor. In fact, I personally think it’s actually harder to pull off humor even than pathos or romance without your face showing. And, because we’re animals and wearing these awesome felted masks (which have a lot of personality, but aren’t dynamic and mobile, of course), we don’t get to use our faces to tell our stories. Add to this the fact that we’re telling a story and expecting a decent percentage of kiddos in attendance–we want them to “get it,” to be charmed, to be utterly Beatrix Pottered.
–Knowing that next week, it’s nose back to the grindstone. Like many of our professional colleagues in larger and more established companies across the US, for the first time, Ballet Fantastique company dancers will be challenged to work on two very different ballets simultaneously. Starting next week, we’ll be working on our all-original Arabian Nights while we also keep Beatrix up to par. As you might expect, Nights is gonna be very different than Beatrix, but simultaneously work/choreograph we must. Let’s just hope that Scheherazade doesn’t accidentally pop out of the wings with a fox tail.
–Logistics. Sigh: as always, my double-hatting gets a lot harder around performance time. And this time, I want to do a good job with things I don’t usually have to think about, including that we’re our own box office for the Wildish performance and being sure that the Florence community knows about our concert there. (Respectively, our norm is that the Hult Box Office manages things beautifully, and our team of interns and volunteers have publicity here in Eugene down to a science–but we’ve never done Florence before.) Let’s just say, I’m already waking up at 3am with random realizations and new ideas.

And so, to wrap it all up…has Hannah pulled it all together and is there a place to get these tickets, you might ask? YES! Here’s what you need to know.

TICKETS FOR WILDISH SHOW: $16 general admission or $10 youth (18 & under)
Three easy ways to order:
–Call 541-342-4622
–Order online
–Visit our local ticket outlets, Bambini or Kidstuff, during normal business hours to purchase your tickets through them (be sure to thank them for their support of Ballet Fantastique!)

TICKETS FOR THE FLORENCE SHOW: $16 adults and $12 youth (18 & under)
Available from the Florence Events Center, 541-997-1994. Tickets sold at the window from noon–4:30 pm daily or by phone with credit card.

Ok, now it’s back to my to do list!

Signing off,
Hannah

The more the merrier, right?

This past weekend, I attended Ballet Fantastique’s second performance of Incendio. Instead of just going with one or two friends, I thought it would be fun to get a group together. We ended up going with six girls and had a great time.

It was such a fun experience, and we took up almost an entire side row at the Hult Center‘s Soreng theater. We had a group of past dancers, non-dancers and even someone who had never been to a ballet before. Maddie (pictured below with executive director and company dancer, Hannah) said she had an amazing time and was so pleased that this was the first ballet she saw. “I also loved that the band played on stage with the dancers — they were awesome.”

“Incendio was the perfect mix of passionate music and exquisite dance; I was entranced by a show that was truly fantastique!” -Amanda Knutsen, Freshman at the UO

Ballet Fantastique has a great group ticket ticket discount, which was perfect for us since the college budget tends to get a little tight. We are already planning on getting a group together to go see Arabian Nights in January, especially since there will be a $6 “Mango Magic Carpet” cocktail special in the lobby during intermission!

–Maggie, BFan Intern

Incendio frenzy!

The weather may be cold outside, but inside the City Center for Dance things couldn’t be hotter! As Incendio draws closer, the BFan ballerinas commit to practically living at the studio, spending long hours perfecting timing and choreography.

(There are also, of course, discussions over the benefits of white over black gloves, and talk of beautiful bejeweled corsets to come )

So, in the spirit of Incendio… here’s a tapas recipe!!

PATATAS BRAVAS:
Roasted potatoes complemented by a spicy red sauce
( Serves 8 )

From Martha Stewart's "Whole Living"

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium yellow onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• One 14-ounce can low-sodium chicken stock, or homemade, skimmed of fat
• One 15-ounce can tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, for garnish

Directions

1. Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with flour, and stir to coat. Add chicken stock, tomato sauce, vinegar, paprika, and red-pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Let cook until slightly thickened and aromatic, about 30 minutes. Set aside, and keep warm.
2. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise. Toss in a bowl with remaining teaspoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
3. Place the coated potatoes cut side down in a single layer on a large cookie sheet, and bake until golden brown and cooked through, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven, and serve with reserved warm tomato sauce, garnished with chopped oregano.
4. Enjoy!

And don’t forget: Purchase your Incendio tickets early and receive a free tapas plate! Advance buyers receive a coupon for a free tapas plate at Red Agave.

To receive the coupon, you must purchase tickets before 10/20 in person at the Hult Center Box Office (you can also receive the coupon if you have your tickets mailed to you, e.g., as a season subscriber).

An Arabian night…

Krislyn, Hannah, Alanna and new Academy star Kelsey

Months upon months of planning and preparations finally added up to the night of our season-opening gala on the evening of October 8th.

Major highlights include:
*AMAZING DECOR! The former Cafe Maroc fit perfectly with the theme, and supplied more lanterns, rich colors, and stonework than we could have dreamed of! Thank you so much to Adam Bernstein for his incredible generosity.  Our record turnout of guests fit snugly with all eighteen tables filled to capacity.

*The pavilion tent at Cafe Maroc held a surprise: elaborate, uniquely Eugene music from Mood Area 52. Ballet Fantastique is a huge fan!  It’s a great event when not only Ballet Fantastique is dancing, but our guests are as well!

*The food and wine, of course! Pyrenees Vineyards and Wine Cellars provided such delicious adult beverages that they ran out of supplies before the night ended! And Chef Rich Balajadia of The Bridge Bar & Grill made the atmosphere edible through a selection of Mediterranean-inspired foods (hummus, sliced vegetables, rice pilaf) in his exclusive menu for the event.  MANY THANKS to Mike Hoover and The Bridge and to Pyrenees for their amazing support.

*The auctions united the audience and BFan team, with everyone anxiously waiting to hear the results of the silent basket bidding. Congratulations to everyone who won a luxury prize! Before this came a lively dessert auction; each dancer modeled the desserts with a box of cupcakes or a stack of chocolate bars before handing off the delectable treats to the lucky winner.

*Best of all was the INCENDIO preview…

Thanks to everyone who came!

(P.S.–Don’t forget about this awesome deal: Get your Incendio tickets early at the Hult and you’ll receive a coupon for a free tapas plate at Red Agave! Contact us for details!)

Meet Alanna!

She’s the newest edition to the BFan company, and she’s traveled everywhere–well, to Costa Rica, Greece, and Germany, among other places–meet Alanna Fisher!

Freshly graduated from the University of Utah with a BFA in Dance, you’ll see her teaching our new Sparkling Stars class and, of course, performing in all of our shows.

Now for some Q&A!
Hometown: Willow Creek, CA

How did you get into ballet? My mom got me
started when I was five or six. I don’t know why, or even if it was something that I was interested in. Honestly, I don’t distinctly remember a time when I didn’t dance, although I didn’t start as young as some.

Most memorable ballet experience? When I got the e-mail from Hannah telling me that Ballet Fantastique wanted me to join their company.

Biggest ballet challenge? Having strength… Especially when doing any sort of jump.

Favorite way to spend a day off? In Salt Lake City, where I went to college, my friends and I would go to our favorite coffee shop or restaurant on days off. We’d also go see movies at the Dollar Theater a lot. Mostly I just like doing things that aren’t related to dance.

Advice for aspiring ballerinas? Work hard!

Welcome to the Ballet Fantastique company, Alanna! We’re thrilled to have you with us!

Live the art…

With only two weeks to spare until the BFan season-opening, I’ve been kept incredibly busy. (To the left you can see some evidence: A stack of lists, including some lists about lists.) Please don’t mind the mess, though–it’s all a part of fitting together the necessary pieces to put on an amazing party.

(I’ve also been exposed to a ton of new experiences, such as making donation request calls. Terrifying at first, but overcoming the fear of rejection along with getting positive responses does wonders to make the process easier )

In case you haven’t heard about the gala, or if you’re unsure of what to expect, here are some of the major highlights:
1. The gala opens our 2011-2012 season, so you can bet the entire BFan team will be there! The dancers will perform vignettes of the upcoming, giving attendees a taste of the original choreography and storylines to come.

2. Speaking of shows to come… the gala will immerse guests in an Arabian night! Bejeweled dancers, lush fabrics, and even some oriental rugs set the scene for an exotic getaway, in the spirit of January 2012′s Arabian Nights. Local Eugene band Mood Area 52 provides rich, mysterious sounds to draw listeners into an Arabian bazaar.

3. Prizes and silent auction goodies galore! A raffle, a silent basket auction, a live dessert auction… all those donation calls pay off when we give attendees the opportunity to purchase luxury items (or just a cupcake). Win a stay at the Oregon Coast, or maybe a deluxe spa treatment! Contributions support discounted tickets as well as scholarships for underprivileged kids to see future performances, as well as the dancers’ plane fare to perform in San Benedetto, Italy next summer!

4. Who could forget–the food! Executive Chef Rich Balajadia of the Bridge Bar and Grill prepares an exclusive menu (including some live cooking demonstrations), while Pyrenees Vineyards provides some of the best wine in the Northwest.

5. Tons of fun! This is a party, after all. Mingle with the entire BFan team–the dancers as well as the rest of us who help to make the magic happen–while having a glass of wine or a microbrew and indulging in exquisite art!

Last year's debut, Gatsby!

Tickets are already over 50% sold out! If you’re interested, go to the BFan events page to get yours (or pay $5 extra for tickets at the door). 7:30 pm on October 8th at the former Cafe Maroc in downtown Eugene! Fun, fabulous, and as always, fantastique! We’re all working incredibly hard to make this night a success

Thanks for reading!
–Intern Katie

How to Balance that Ballerina Body

There is often times a stigma associated with ballerinas and the need to be skinny. It is no secret that this stigma can lead to eating disorders, and many ballerinas are unfortunately stereotyped as having various disorders. However, there are many ways to maintain a healthy diet and stay in shape the right way! Here are a few tips and helpful hints to help ballerinas balance their diet:

• Food intake must include all the necessary nutrients: a good balance in your everyday should be approximately: 58-60% Carbohydrates, 12-15% Protein and 30-25% Fat.
• Keep a good balance of acid and alkaline within the body. Your diet should be balanced with 20% acid forming foods and 80% alkaline forming foods.
• Water can account for approximately 65% of the body’s weight, depending on one’s age and sex. We all know water is important, but many do not know why. It is essential for the digestive process, carrying food to the tissues and carrying away waste. It controls body temperature. Water directs the process of converting food into tissue and energy. You should be drinking one and a half to two liters of water every day.
• You should eat a meal one and a half to three hours before performing. In order to have a good energy level, this meal should have complex carbohydrates, which is the best energy source for dancers.
• Avoid sweet fluids before performing because they are absorbed very slowly and do not enhance performance.
• When cooking, use olive oil instead of butter.
• Eat tons of fiber and leafy greens.
• Try to avoid making cream sauces or mayonnaise-based dressings.

Important vitamins and their functions:

• Vitamin A to act as an antioxidant to help your muscles to recover and heal and to aid bone formation (leafy green vegetables, yellow fruits, milk, cheese, egg yolks)
• vitamin B1 [thiamin] to convert food to energy (pork, whole grains, legumes, fish)
• vitamin B2 [riboflavin] to convert food to energy (lean meats, dairy products, leafy green vegetables, eggs)
• vitamin B3 [niacin] to convert food to energy (dairy products, poultry, lean meat, fish, legumes, nuts, eggs)
• vitamin B6 [pyridoxine] to help form red blood cells, make protein (chicken, fish, eggs, brown rice, whole-wheat bread)
• vitamin B12 to maintain healthy nerve cells and red blood cells (fish, dairy products, eggs, meat, poultry)
• vitamin C as an antioxidant to help muscles to heal and recover, to enhance the immune system (citrus fruits, tomatoes, berries, broccoli, cabbage, sweet potatoes)
• vitamin D to promote absorption of calcium and formation of bone (fortified milk, salmon, tuna, sunshine!)
• vitamin E as an antioxidant to help muscles heal and recover, help formation of red blood cells (wheat germ, soybean, corn, olives, seeds and nuts, spinach, asparagus, vegetable oils)
• calcium – essential for development and maintenance of bones and teeth, important for muscle contraction and nerve function (dairy products, green leafy vegetables, tofu, fortified orange juice)
• iron to carry oxygen in the blood (meats, poultry, fish, oysters, whole-grain cereal, fruits, green veggies, egg yolks)
• zinc to support the immune system (oysters, meats, poultry, legumes, nuts, dairy products, whole-grain cereal)
• magnesium to metabolize food to transmit messages between cells to relaxing muscles, for other different fucntions in the body (nuts, legumes, whole grains, green vegetables, spinach, avocados, bananas)
• potassium which is critical to muscle contraction and heart function, building muscle, normal body growth (fish, broccoli, peas, lima beans, tomatoes, potatoes, leafy greens, apples, bananas, apricots)

Finally, try to avoid the following:

• Eating extremes of any kind
• Fad diets
• Food grown with pesticides, antibiotics or hormones
• Junk food
• Refined, processed foods
• Soda (regular and diet)
• Excessive caffeine

The Dancing Gourmet is a great book filled with recipes and more helpful hints about how to balance a healthy ballerina diet, by Linda Hymes.

Where the magic happens…

Ballet Fantastique’s studios are alive! Again the City Center for Dance and the Annex are filled with tutu-ed ballerinas chattering and running around, clutching onto yoga mats… at least, before they step back onto the dance floor and pick up where they left off when summer break started.

Still a work in progress, the richly-colored City Center for Dance is the indeed the center of all the action–we hold events and classes, as well as conduct business, here all while people on the street walk by and stare in through our huge windows. It opened about a year ago in the former Tiffany’s Gold Cross Drug Store, a historic storefront location at 960 Oak, after we outgrew our old studio down the street (now known as the Annex).

Creative director Donna Marisa Bontrager had this to say about the project: “Together we will restore a piece of the city’s past in a way that contributes to its future. The Ballet Fantastique City Center for Dance will play an important role in the redevelopment of downtown Eugene. It is a participating symbol of the resurgence of the area and the culture that thrives here.”