The Latest Numbers

My third series on beautiful women in dance is officially closed. And, as of the end of this year, 2010, I have posted pictures of 426 different women on this blog.

Most of the dance subjects of the past month were researched and saved as drafts long before I published their respective entries, so all I've had to do for the past several weeks is click "Publish Post," the real work having been done long ago. Which means that, come January, it'll be back to the grind of thinking of women I haven't featured yet, looking for good pictures of them (sometimes scanning the pictures from hard copy, sometimes downloading them from online), uploading the pictures, and posting them to share with you, my loyal followers. :-) Thanks for your support. You make this blog all the more worthwhile.

Happy new year. Now it's on to another A to Z round of subjects for the start of 2011.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Andrea Weber, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, New York, NY

A graduate of the Julliard School, Andrea Weber has not only proven herself on stage, but in the studio as well.

Being part of the troupe of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, one of the most prestigious modern dance troupes in the world, is enough of a distinction, but Andrea Weber is also a faculty member of the Merce Cunningham Studio. This teaching dancer joined the Cunningham company in 2004.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Vanessa Thiessen, ODC/Dance, San Francisco, CA

Vanessa Thiessen has made her reputation in West Coast dance circles.

Originally from Portland, Oregon, she trained at the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre and joined its company in 1995. While there, she performed lead roles in ballets such as Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, and Serenade. In 2003, she joined Smuin Ballet in San Francisco and performed numerous lead roles ballets created by Michael Smuin, its founder. As of 2010, Vanessa Thiessen was in her third season with ODC/Dance.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Kaori Takai, State Street Ballet, Santa Barbara, CA

Kaori Takai is one of many Japanese ballet dancers active in the United States.

Originally from Osaka, Ms. Takai danced with many companies in both Japan and in the U.S. before settling with the State Street Ballet in southern California. She has danced roles in Cinderella, Giselle, and Carmen, among other ballets.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Linda Celeste Sims, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, New York, NY

Linda Celeste Sims is such an indelible presence in the Alvin Ailey company in New York, it makes sense that she goes by her full name.

A member of the Ailey troupe since 1996, Mrs. Sims is the recipient of an award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. She has been highlighted in the “Best of 2009” list in Dance Magazine, and she's become a pop-culture celebrity as well. She's performed as a guest star on "So You Think You Can Dance” and "Dancing with the Stars."

She also made a guest appearance at the White House tribute to Ailey artistic director Judith Jamison, who is retiring soon. Mrs. Sims, who was named Ailey's assistant to the rehearsal director in 2010, continues on.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Valerie Robin, Joffrey Ballet, Chicago, IL

Valerie Robin has been with Chicago's prestigious Joffrey company since 2000.

The Canadian-born Ms. Robin was raised and trained in Tulsa. A veteran of the Tulsa Ballet Theatre and the Milwaukee Ballet, she became a Tulsa Ballet Theatre corps member and danced with the company for two years. Ms. Robin then joined the Milwaukee Ballet. She is also the 1990 bronze medal recipient at the New York International Ballet Competition.

Her Joffrey credits include roles in Apollo, Giselle, Italian Suite, Reflections, and A Wedding Bouquet.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Peggy Petteway, Lustig Dance Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ

Peggy Petteway, a dancer from Florida, has danced principal roles in many different ballet companies, mostly in the South. Since 1999, though, she has been mostly associated with dance in New Jersey.

From 1999 to 2010, Peggy Petteway danced for American Repertory Ballet in Princeton under artistic director Graham Lustig. There she appeared in numerous works such as The Eyes That Gently Touch, Opposites Distract, and Twyla Tharp’s Sinatra Suite, among others. She is now part of Lustig's namesake company in New Brunswick.

More recently, she danced in Luna Mexicana, a Lustig ballet inspired by the Mexican holiday honoring the dead.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Kate Oderkirk, Tulsa Ballet, Tulsa, OK

Yes, Tulsa has a ballet company! And among its large artistic personnel is soloist Kate Oderkirk.

Ms. Oderkirk joined Tulsa Ballet in 2008 from a trainee program with the San Francisco Ballet School. Swan Lake, Glass Pieces, Street Songs, and Giselle are among the many ballets in her repertoire.

During her first year with Tulsa Ballet, she danced featured roles in Serenade and Nine Lives, among other works.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Sharron Miller

Sharron Miller is a local legend in Essex County, New Jersey.

A formal principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey troupe and a veteran of seven Broadway shows, she runs her own namesake performing arts school in Montclair, New Jersey, and she is a faculty member of a local private school. The mission of her school, the Sharron Miller Academy For the Performing Arts, is to teach "dance and related theatre arts without regard to cultural ethnicity or economic background."

More information on her academy is here.

Full disclosure requires me to credit Wendy McNeil of Montclair for suggesting her, and I am happy for her suggestion.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Erin McAfee, Joffrey Ballet, Chicago, IL

Erin McAfee joined The Joffrey Ballet as an apprentice in August 2006 and was promoted to a full company member in June 2008.

She trained with several schools and companies, including the International Ballet School, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet West and the Washington Ballet. She's cited Margot Fonteyn, Sylvia Guillem, and Natalia Makarova among her biggest influences.

Ms. McAfee's roles have included the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker as well as roles in ballets such as Don Quixote, Serenade, and Le Corsaire.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Maribeth Maxa, Dance Alloy Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA

Not all of the distinguished modern dance companies in America are in New York. Dance Alloy, in Pittsburgh, is a highly regarded troupe and known for creating contemporary dances that seek to break down the "fourth wall" between performers and spectators. And Maribeth Maxa is among its current dancers.

Ms. Maxa is graduate of the Juilliard School, and she has also performed with the Metropolitan Repertory Ballet and Gleich Dances Contemporary Ballet. She joined Dance Alloy in 2003.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Tara Lee, Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta, GA

Tara Lee has been with the Atlanta Ballet since 1995.

The Connecticut-born dancer has also been a guest artist with New Orleans Ballet Theatre and spent a year with Vancouver’s Ballet British Columbia. Her principal dancing has included roles in James Kudelka's Cinderella and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Maria Kochetkova, San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco, CA

It's been said that Latin America is the new Russia in the dance world, but Maria Kochetkova, principal dancer for the San Francisco Ballet, has shown that the world's geographically largest country is still a force in ballet.

The Bolshoi-trained Kochetkova, an alumna of the English National Ballet in London, has an impressive repertoire that includes includes the title role in Giselle, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, and Kitri in Don Quixote. A beloved star among Frisco ballet fans and a popular presence on American television (public and commercial), she joined the San Francisco Ballet in 2007.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Yuriko Kajiya, American Ballet Theatre, New York, NY

Yuriko Kajiya became a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre in the summer of 2007.

Born in Nagoya, Japan, Yuriko Kajiya began her dance training when she was eight, and she soon went to China to study with and graduate from the Shanghai Ballet School on scholarship, one of the first non-Chinese dancers to do so. She came to North America by winning the Prix de Lausanne Scholarship in 2000, allowing her to study at the National Ballet of Canada School in Toronto.

Ms. Kajiya joined American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company (now ABT II) in 2001 and became an apprentice with the main company in 2002, joining the corps de ballet later that year. Her credits with American Ballet Theatre include Blossom in Cinderella, Gulnare in Le Corsaire, Henrietta in Raymonda, Clara in The Nutcracker, and too many more to list here.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Rachel Holmes, Elisa Monte Dance, New York, NY

You know a dancer is great when you appreciate her sense of motion by looking at a still picture of her.

A lot of people don't "get" modern dance. To those folks, I say this: Look at this picture of Rachel Holmes of Elisa Monte Dance in New York City. I ask you . . .

What's to get? :-D

Originally from Kentucky, Rachel Holmes began her training in Cincinnati, and she later attended both the Dance Theater of Harlem School and the Joffrey Ballet School. She has been a member of Elisa Monte Dance since 2006.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Lorena Feijoo, San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco, CA

Lorena Feijoo is one of the biggest ballet stars to grace the stage in the City By the Bay.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Lorena Feijoo trained Cuba's National Ballet School of Cuba and began her carrer with the country's national ballet company. She performed with numerous ballet companies before joining the San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer in 1999.

She has performed lead roles in Giselle and Romeo and Juliet, among other works.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Chalnessa Eames, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle, WA

Chalnessa Eames is originally from Bellingham, Washington, but she had to go through Canada in part to get to Seattle.

She attended the Pacific Northwest Ballet School's summer course, but her training also took her to the School of Royal Winnipeg Ballet, whose company she joined in 1996. She joined the Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet five years later, and she became a soloist in 2007.

She has danced in numerous Balanchine works.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Ansa Deguchi, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland, OR

Ansa Deguchi has been a soloist with the Oregon Ballet Theatre since 2004.

Orginally from Japan, Ansa Deguchi studied at Chika Goto Step Works Ballet from 1989 to 2002, joining the Oregon Ballet Theatre in 2003 as an apprentice. She has appeared in dances such as Serenade, Opus 50, and Swan Lake.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Amanda Cobb, The Washington Ballet, Washington, DC

Amanda Cobb began her third season with the Washington Ballet in 2010.

Originally from Tucson, Arizona, Amanda Cobb studied dance in New York and returned to her native state to perform as a principal ballerina with Ballet Tucson, joining the now-defunct Ohio Ballet in 2001 and the American Ballet Theatre in 2004.

Among the principal roles she's danced are Kick Girl in George Balanchine's Rubies and Tiger Lilly in Septime Webre's Peter Pan.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Eran Bugge, Paul Taylor Dance Company, New York, NY

Eran Bugge joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in the autumn of 2005.

The Florida native has also performed with Full Force Dance Theatre and the Adam Miller Dance Project.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Amy Aldridge, Pennsylvania Ballet, Philadelphia, PA

Amy Aldridge has been a fixture in the Pennsylvania Ballet since 1994, when she first joined the company as an apprentice.

A native Richmond, Virginia, Amy Aldridge studied dance with various teachers such as Jacques d'Amboise and Melissa Hayden. At the Pennsylvania Ballet, she's had a meteoric rise, being promoted to the corps de ballet in 1995 and to soloist two years later, finally becoming a principal dancer in 2001.

Among the ballets in which she's dance in principal roles are The Taming of the Shrew and The Sleeping Beauty. She has also had featured roles in dances such as Allegro Brilliante and The Four Temperaments.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Three: Eun Young Ahn, American Ballet Theatre, New York, NY

The Seoul-born Eun Young Ahn has been a member of the American Ballet Theatre's corps de ballet in December 2007.

She brought a wealth of experience to the company upon joining, having studied at the Kirov Ballet Academy in Washington, D.C. on a scholarship. As a soloist in the Universal Ballet Company in Korea, she appeared in numerous ballets such as Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, La Bayadère, and yes, The Nutcracker.

The Beauty of Dance: Part Three!

Once again, I am devoting an entire month to highlighting dancers. And, as always, looking for beautiful women in dance is like looking for flowers in the springtime. :-)

Attentive visitors to this blog will note that I have settled into focusing on dancers every other December. I hadn't planned it that way, I just fell into that pattern. I'm probably going to stay with that routine, though I could easily present Part Four of this series in 2011 and in some other month. ;-)

Of course, December seems like an appropriate month to feature dancers, especially ballet dancers, what with ballet companies all over America performing The Nutcracker and all that.

Well, I'll see when Part Four comes. For now, let's get to Part Three. As usual, there are many lovely women in modern dance and ballet to feature, and I know just how to present them.

Alphabetically. :-D

So let's go! :-)