I find pleasure, wholly, or intermittently, in all of ABT’s ballets.  Some are more challenging for the conductor, and some more so for the dancers, but they all have their moments!  However, there is one ballet that seems to fit me like a glove, and that is Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia.  It’s not for everyone, but it suits me and my temperament.  The score is so beautifully orchestrated.  There are wonderful tunes – lyrical, grand, comedic – and Ashton understood it because his choreography finds the balance between pathos and humor, intimacy and distance.  I look forward to it every time it returns to the repertoire, and I have enjoyed every single performance.  There are orchestra members who chide me about my affection for the composer, Léo Delibes, but what can I say? It’s in my French heritage!

If I hadn’t stumbled into this profession (and believe me, I had no plan), I can only speculate about what would have happened to me. Something with language, maybe. A writer, a translator (I love languages), or (and this is a stretch), a dancer! I studied ballet for a year in college at a private studio, and my teacher, who had a small company, asked me to join. I think it’s because she was desperate for men to join the troupe, but who knows? I could have ended up on the other side of the proscenium!