WEBVTT
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So welcome to the Two Tooth Thin podcast.
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My name is Don Smith Theodore, and thank you to all the listeners.
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Today I have a very special guest.
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His name is Ryan Lenke, and he is from the State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara.
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And I'm gonna let him tell you a little bit about himself, but I'm really excited to have him here.
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And so welcome, Ryan.
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Thank you so much.
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Thank you for having me.
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I'm so happy to be here.
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Um yeah, I'm Ryan Lenke.
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I am a dancer at State Street Ballet in California.
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I've been here since 2021.
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And I'm also associate director of the Male Dance Connection, which is a company that was created during COVID when we saw some boys falling through the cracks.
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And we're here to support the Brotherhood and keep guys in dance and offer supplemental training at our events and Zoom privates.
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Um I'm also a NASA certified sports nutritionist and a student at St.
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Mary's College of California.
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Oh, what are you studying at St.
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Mary's?
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So I'm currently in their LEAT program, which is a program for professional dancers.
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And so I will be getting my BFA in dance performance.
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Oh, that's great.
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That's great.
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It's been great so far.
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So, okay, let's start with how did you get into dance?
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Okay.
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Uh I fell into dance when I was nine years old.
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And I was really inspired after my mom took me to see Billy Ellie at the music hall on Broadway in New York.
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And after seeing that, I was I was transfixed.
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And I was like, I want to do that.
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That looks so fun, so cool.
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I want to be like that kid on stage.
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And the week I got back, I started dance classes.
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Um I started with privates because I was just starting, didn't want to be with the girls.
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It was kind of um let's see.
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Where did you grow up?
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Where did you, where were you living at the time?
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Yeah, so I I'm originally from Wheeling, West Virginia.
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And in Wheeling is a small town um at the very top of the panhandle of the state.
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And there was a studio there that offered me a great like starting place.
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I I danced with them for like six months, but I was like, oh, I want to keep dancing.
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I want more.
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And so my mom found a Broadway dance studio that's uh now closed down, Karen Pronzik's Broadway dance studio.
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And I danced there for a year and I trained in tap and jazz and musical theater and ballet.
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But that I was always really interested in ballet because that was there was so much structure to it, and it was so challenging and rewarding and fun.
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So I eventually told my mom I wanted to do more ballet, and I ended up going to Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, where I had a great male teacher, Peter Merz, who coached me through some competitions and the ups and downs of my life.
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And that was a really good place for me.
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Um so I was really inspired.
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Musical theater was my start, and that was my first love, and I was obsessed.
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And my mom spoiled me every time a show would come into Pittsburgh.
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We were there, New York trip once a year, seeing a show.
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She grew up in dance and musical theater, and so she helped cultivate that love and passion in me once she saw the spark.
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And I'm I'm grateful for her because um Wheeling, West Virginia, there is not many opportunities for dancing and training.
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And so my mom would drive an hour every day to Pittsburgh, and I would I would dance for four hours there, five hours, however many days a week, and she would drive home.
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So she was really committed to making sure I got the best training I could.
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That's amazing.
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Uh, kudos to mom.
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Uh her name is Dawn as well.
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Oh, really?
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Um, I did not know that um I'm from Ohio, I'm from Cincinnati, so nearby, but I didn't actually realize that wheeling was that close to Pittsburgh.
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So what a great experience to be able to go to the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet because that's a great training ground.
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Yes, I I had some of my my first opportunities there.
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The the director at the time, Jean Gedian, she saw something in me when I first auditioned, and she immediately I made me the prince in the nutcracker.
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And I so that was kind of immediately she saw something in me that helped pull that out.
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And I I just loved it, and I loved the people there and the community was great, good teachers and friends.
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And after that, it I had a really awesome opportunity.
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Um, the director I had a connection to Dean Abergell of New York City Ballet, who was the children's rehearsal master.
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And I auditioned for Romeo and Juliet.
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Um sorry, let me let me go back.
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When I was 12 years old, my director invited me to audition for this New York City ballet production of Romeo and Juliet, and they needed a mandolin boy, and this is a group of five boys that dance.
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There's one lead boy and four who are doing cute tumbling, and it's very fun turns, cabrioles.
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So I auditioned for this and I actually got casted.
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And so I worked really hard and trained before I went to Saratoga Springs, and I got to perform with Near Sea Ballet, a professional company at 12 years old, and I got to dance on stage with them.
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I got to do a bow, and it was just such an amazing opportunity.
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And I think Jean Gettian at Pittsburgh Youth Ballet trained so many amazing dancers, and I was so grateful that I had got time to work with her.
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I was, I feel like I was part of the last generation of that group of Pittsburgh Youth Ballet.
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And because shortly after I left, she retired and it has rebranded now to um Texture Ballet School, and it's connected to Texture Contemporary Ballet Company.
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My old teacher from he was in the in the system at PYB and he took over the school and he had a company at the time.
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So he rebranded it and they're still they're doing great work there.
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And I'm actually performing with them again this summer.
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I I'm returning home to Pittsburgh and doing a show with them in July.
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So it's so great to return home to those same studios that trained me.
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And now I get to go back and dance alongside my teacher and in a professional environment and perform in Pittsburgh.
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So and it also has to give the students like it must be exciting for the students to have somebody come back who's gone through the school, even if it's been rebranded, and have them dance there and see what's possible.
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Yeah.
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It's great seeing some people in Pittsburgh who were like, oh, I was six years old when you were at PYB, but I remember you, and yeah, now I'm a senior, or it's funny, it's a very small world, the ballet world is very small, and I run into people all the time, and there's always a mutual connection somewhere.
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So did you do a lot of summer intensives, you know, as a as a student?
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I I did um my first summer intensive was after my first like six months of actual dancing.
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I I went to the rock school.
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Oh yeah.
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And that was that's also made me realize I like ballet a lot.
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Um after that, I did the Point Park International Dance Intensive, and that's a college in Pittsburgh.
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And that's where I met my teacher who who trained me, Peter Mers.
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He helped me very integral time my dance training at like 12 to 14.
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He helped me make sure I was getting a foundation and proper mindset.
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Um so I did those two summer intensives, and the next summer I performed in Saratoga.
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So I was working with a school there.
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I was training at a school there, as well as rehearsing for um the show.
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And after that, because I was I I worked with New York City ballet, I became obsessed with School of American Ballet and SAB.
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A lot of young dancers are deterred get determined to go there for the summer.
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And I I went there for the summer of 13 years old.
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This was my first real time, like staying away from home.
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And I had a great experience there.
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I really wanted to join the school for the year-round.
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And I I didn't get asked, and I was very crushed, honestly, by that.
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But the next summer, I was determined to go back and get it again and get into this the year-round program.
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And a lot of students have this mentality when they go to the summer intensive and there's a pre-pro school attached to it, or if it's a company affiliated school, they're also stressed and they're always like, Oh, did you hear that they got the they got asked to stay for the year?
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And it's such a toxic mentality.
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Um, but I fell into that.
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And because I didn't get asked the second summer, I was very discouraged and I I felt like quitting.
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Every young dancer has a time in their life where they'll they'll consider quitting or not.
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Is this something I really want to do?
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And it's important to have that and then to face the reality of do I want to do this as a career because it's a real commitment.
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And if you make it and you're still passionate and you have the will to make it happen and be determined, it can happen.
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It's but it's hard to there are these traps that are very easy to fall into in the ballet world.
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And it's not all dependent on if you get asked into the one summer, if you get asked into the one school from the summer intensive, because there, if that's not the path for you, and then that's not the path for you.
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There's so many great schools out there, large and small, that that can take you.
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And so I learned that after um that second summer at SAV, I was discouraged and I was like, yeah, I don't want to go back to my old school.
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Like I was ready to like move somewhere, but I just don't know where.
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And my old teacher, Peter, reached out to Peter Stark at Next Generation Ballet, and at 15, or yes, at 15, I had just turned 15, we moved to Tampa.
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My mom and I had just moved to Tampa to get me um better ballet training at Next Generation Ballet, and it was great.
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It was going well.
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Uh, like the first few months were great.
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I was finally in an environment where there were other male dancers there.
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And so having that around me just reinvigorated me because I could have that friendly competition and the camaraderie and just somebody to relate to.
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Because when I was when I was training in Pittsburgh before we had moved, I was the only boy at my studio.
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And I was in the high school class with all these like very talented girls.
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They were all like my friends, so sweet to me.
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But I definitely was missing just that buddy buddy, um, and doing double tours together after class.
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Um, I was always, it was always addressed as okay, ladies, fuetes, ladies and gentlemen.
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Um, let's do it's always ladies and gentlemen.
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So it was nice to be in a place where it was ladies and gentlemen.
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But there's a when I was after three months into next generation ballet in the fall, I got a stress fracture in my heel.
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I landed a jump and I just felt something happen.
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And that was like my first injury, and I was in a boot and I was dealing with it.
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But I couldn't do nutcracker that year.
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And that was okay.
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I was helping out backstage, and in between shows, I went home, and on my way back from the theater, I was actually crossing the street, and somebody had ran a red light going 50 miles per hour, and they hit me.
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And so I was hit by this car going very fast.
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Um, and I was knocked unconscious immediately.
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And my mom tried calling me, and a police officer picked up, and I was in the hospital, and they they told my mom they brought them to the um the priest, which is not a good sign, and they told her, like, they're not sure if I'll survive.
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And if I do, there's a very big chance I could be paralyzed the rest of my life.
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And so my first memory was waking up and seeing my mom and a friend, uh my friend's mom.
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And I was I couldn't speak, I had a breath, I had um oxygen and a lung AI, sorry, what's it called?
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Like insubated.
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Yes, I I had a chest tube in.
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My first memory when I woke up was I couldn't really speak, but I was so confused.
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I tried to sign like what happened, and she told me I was in the hospital and I was okay.
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Um, and I just went back to sleep.
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So I was in the ICU for 10 days, and after that, I I was happy that my stress fracture was gonna be healed, but I I knew I had a long like road to recovery, and that wasn't gonna be easy.
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But I still was like, I'm a dancer, like I can do it, like there's no problem.
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And I just had so much support, and I had to learn how to walk again, and I was dealing with a a lot of residual traumatic brain injury things.
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It was a really bad concussion, and so I was dealing with dizziness and and migraines, but I was able to get back in the studio just like three months later.
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I just started slowly like trying to do baby bar, and I was going to physical therapy.
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And that summer, I stayed at Next Generation Ballet Summer, and I was getting healthier, and I was still living with my mom.
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He was taking great care of me, and I just had a great support system there.
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It was a very healthy environment at Next Generation, and I always I recommend that school to students who are who are looking for that next like step in their pre-pro training, but don't want a strict, scary environment.
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It's very family-friendly.
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Tampa's a great place to live, safe.
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Um, but they have they have great people there.
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And I was able to recover from my car accident, and from there, I would I moved to Boston with my mom, and I joined them there as a trainee.
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And that was a great, great experience.
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It was my first time working with the company.
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I I was able to get great training on my own with the trainees, and then we would be under studying or in the company show.
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So we would be in the back of rehearsal watching all the amazing things happen, and it's so inspiring.
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Um that that was my first.
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Was that Boston Ballet?
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Boston Ballet.
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Yes, this is at Boston Ballet.
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Yeah, and they're they're a great company, they're a powerhouse.
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But that's that was a tough year for me though, um, because my mom, my mom had been diagnosed with cancer during my time in Tampa, and it was very aggressive cancer.
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And so the Boston winter, it she declined very fast.
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I had been injured, so dance wasn't going well.
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And from there, um, she ended up passing away that summer in June.
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It was like a year from her diagnosis to her passing.
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And so from there, I was like, it was very hard, but I knew I had to do it all for my mom and that she wouldn't want me to mope around, and she would want me to stay on this path that she helped push me on.
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And so with that, I I built, I turned the adversity into fuel, and I just put more into my tondus and I put more into my my jumps, and I just worked harder.
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Um yeah, I I had moved to Ballet West and I had moved to Salt Lake City to train at Ballet West after that.
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And I was I was working really hard, and I had a lot of help from my friends around me, and that was a really important transition period for me.
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Those trainee years can be really tough for dancers, but it is really important because you learn how to provide for yourself and how to live independently, and how to take care of yourself amongst it all, and how to pay rent.
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And it's a big, it's tough, but it's a big wake-up call for a lot of people, and it's an important transition because going 18, 17 years old, it's it's a confusing world, but that helps you kind of just understand it a little bit more and how you're gonna maneuver through it.
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.119
Um Wow, I just have to stop you.
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You had a lot of no, but it's trauma dumping.
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No, but it's interesting because you know, I reached out to you because I was really interested in the sports nutrition and all the things that you've done uh with the male dance connection.
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I had no idea about all of this.
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So you this is just the intro.
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Well, you've you have um overcome a lot, you know.
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And I do feel like, you know, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, you know.
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Yeah so I the biggest thing I mean I've learned through ballet, and the only reason I've been able to make it through and be strong enough is just the resilience I've learned and the discipline of doing what you have to do, even if you don't want to.
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Um and just being able to to have things bounce off of you and keeping the blinders on and and staying focused on what's important to you.
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Um it's I've learned so much through ballet, and I don't think I would have been able to recover from my car accident if it hadn't been for ballet for the training I had before the resilience I physical resilience I built and being able to train with that after made me so much stronger.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Um and I mean it had to be really hard because it sounds like mom was your best cheerleader, you know?
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Yeah, she was your huge support and went wherever you needed to go to take you to make sure you had what you needed for ballet.
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Yeah, she really was the biggest support, and she taught me so many tools just by being around her and and just seeing how passionate she was and how she meant it, how she operated it all.
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I learned so much from her, and she was my yeah, my best friend.
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But I some things in life are out of your control, and the only thing you can control is how you respond to it and how you you have to process it and you have to grieve, but you can't let it be all-consuming that you lose your path.
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You can't dwell.
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I mean, it's like you do, you it's a process.
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The grieving the grieving is a process, but you can't get stuck in the victim mode, you know, and it sounds like you really took all of that and used it to propel yourself forward in whatever you wanted to do.
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Yeah.
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And all of my work through Mail Dance Connection and all of my professional.
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Career is devoted for her.
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And it's all it's all in honor of her legacy and everything that she gave me.
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So yeah.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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So let's talk about the male dance connection.
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So that happened during, because there sounds like, you know, you didn't have a lot of male bonding when you were at Pittsburgh Youth Ballet.
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And then it was good for you when you went to the next generation.
00:23:18.399 --> 00:23:29.279
But let's talk about, you know, being a male dancer in the ballet world and what made you decide to start this?
00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:37.039
Because I think it is a really important, it's an it's important uh education for male dancers.
00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:39.359
Yeah.
00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:47.519
Being the only boy at my studio for so long, I know firsthand how it feels.
00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:50.240
And it can feel isolating.
00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:56.879
So the male dance connection is literally literally built off of the name.
00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:01.920
It's connecting people because that is what art is all about.
00:24:02.159 --> 00:24:07.039
It's the connection with the audience, it's the connection with your peers on stage.
00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:10.480
So it's the connections in the studio.
00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:14.639
And it's it you it's impossible to do it alone.
00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:18.799
And we want to make sure that there are no guys out there doing it alone.
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:37.279
And now with with the resources we have nowadays, it's a virtual platform as well as these in-person events where I see these guys come every every summer and winter intensive that we do, and they see each other again, and it's they click, you know, they're best friends.
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:41.680
They they talk about who they've hung out with recently and what they're watching.
00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:48.960
And it's just it's great seeing these kids and these these adults like connecting over ballet.
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:50.720
It's such a special thing we do.
00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:54.720
So, where do you hold the like the ones in the summer?
00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:58.480
You said virtual, is it virtually like throughout the year, maybe?
00:24:58.639 --> 00:25:02.159
And then you do like summer and winter, or how do you do it?
00:25:02.399 --> 00:25:02.799
Yeah.
00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:17.200
So our summer and winter intensives are currently held in Denver, Colorado, because my business partner, Bryce Lee, is a soloist at Colorado Ballet, and he's located there.
00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:24.159
And so we've been using the studios and his amazing dance connections um as teachers.
00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:28.399
But we have held them in Orange County, California before as well.
00:25:28.639 --> 00:25:34.879
And very soon uh we we hope to expand and get out to the East Coast.
00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:52.319
Yeah, but the virtual um programs that we offer, we do these town hall talks that are free, and we discuss things like summer intensives or the path to a professional career.
00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.559
How do I transition from pre-pro to student?
00:25:54.639 --> 00:26:00.399
So we have these guest speakers come on and share their thoughts, and we have a QA.
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:14.960
Um, it's many of them are open to parents and students because we're just trying to help navigate the ballet world together, and it can be confusing, but we're here to just kind of be the bridge that they may need.
00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:15.680
Yeah.
00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:39.200
That's sorry, most of our online things, we have a Sunday like boys class and it's a Zoom class, and we just consolidate to our rooms, make it very effective, small drills and exercises, and a lot of breaking things down, mindset training, as well as privates.
00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:53.839
We also do private lessons, and that's always so great because we can tackle the variation that they're working on, or tackle something they need help for an audition, or just wherever you need.
00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:56.799
It's we offer supplemental training.
00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:01.200
We're not trying to become the school, only school that they train with.
00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:14.399
We just are here to help out these studios that may not know what to do with their only boy and don't know how to work double tours, and we're here to to offer some assistance with the studios.
00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:28.639
I wish you'd been there when I had my dance studio because I had you know 25 years, and I know I had a one boy, he ended up going to Juilliard and now dances in Europe, but it was hard.
00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:30.240
It's hard to have one boy.
00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:35.039
So where was my studio located?
00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:37.920
Calabasas in California.
00:27:38.159 --> 00:27:40.000
So close by.
00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:42.000
So okay, I love that.
00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:43.279
I love what you're doing.
00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:46.399
So, and then now tell me about the nutritional part.
00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:51.440
How'd you get into that and wanting to do the sports nutrition?
00:27:52.960 --> 00:28:02.639
I I've always been so interested in the nutrition aspect of things, how to take care of yourself properly and how to fuel yourself properly.
00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:10.000
Because I noticed in the ballet world, there's so many outdated ways of thinking when it comes to diet.
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:17.119
And I see a lot of dancers that are not helping themselves enough.
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:36.399
And so I decided to get my education with NASA and become sports new sports nutrition certified because I wanted to actually integrate everything I believe and am passionate about into what I do in my teaching.
00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:49.359
And so, in just the way I live, I want to embody my philosophy more so of dancers are endurance-like athletes, and we need to fuel ourselves like that.
00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:59.599
We need to make sure we're we're snacking enough in between rehearsals, and we need to make sure we're getting enough protein and calories.
00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:03.839
It's it's crucial to what we do.
00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:14.000
So, I mean, you know, I'm a former dancer, I recovered from anorexia, and I am now an eating disorder therapist.
00:29:14.159 --> 00:29:18.159
So I deal with a lot of dancers who have eating disorders.
00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:29.279
Um, and I'm curious, like in your experience with uh sports nutrition, do you find a lot of dancers who are really struggling with eating disorders?
00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:46.159
Or disordered eating, maybe it's in my in my uh teachings with working with male dancers mostly, when it comes to nutrition, I don't see so much disordered eating.
00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:53.839
I just see not consistent uh behaviors and not healthy habits.
00:29:54.960 --> 00:30:13.119
It's it's really just a lack of awareness that I I think people have that the lay man needs a certain amount of calories, but as a dancer in our high training environments, we need many more than that.
00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:17.920
We need to add at least like a third of what a normal person would consume.
00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:32.799
So it's it's hard to find the right perfect supplements for that because everybody is so unique in their preferences and things, but trying to trying to just instill good habits in people when I can.
00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:35.759
And yeah.
00:30:36.399 --> 00:30:45.920
And it's really different from men for men than women, because I think there's a lot of pressure put on women in the ballet world to be a certain size.
00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:50.399
And um, I don't know if you feel it's that way for men.
00:30:52.000 --> 00:31:06.639
Um I think for men it's very hard because we we're still in front of a mirror all day, and we want to have the aesthetic lines, and we want to look slender.
00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:07.279
I don't know.
00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:10.639
It's it's just instilled in the culture.
00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:24.960
But when you're 16 and you're thinking like that, and you're thinking about how can I still stay this skinny, that's so unlike how it should be.
00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:32.399
Um I see a lot of male dancers are just they're trying to still remain slim.
00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:35.359
I need to I need to be skinny and lean.
00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:46.879
But the reality of that is that you can build a lot of strength and still be lean if you just are feeling yourself enough.
00:31:47.200 --> 00:32:01.200
And it's uh male dancers have have these pressures on them that they have to be expected to lift and partner these girls and support them, but they don't know how to actually take care of themselves to make that possible.
00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:11.839
And it comes, you gotta put in some work, you gotta make that protein shake, you gotta eat that protein bar even if you're only kind of hungry.
00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:14.799
It's you just need to supplement it where you can.
00:32:14.879 --> 00:32:23.839
And there's a lot of like small windows of opportunity that are missed by students and professionals alike that is hurting their performance.
00:32:24.079 --> 00:32:30.079
It really, it really can deteriorate your performance inside of the studio and outside of the studio.
00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:34.559
You're gonna not feel great if you're not fueling yourself properly.
00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:36.559
Your body's gonna shut down.
00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:38.799
Yeah, it's true.
00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:45.680
And it is so much of and injuries, you know, it's like you want longevity as a dancer.
00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:54.240
And how you're gonna get that is by having by fueling your body properly, giving it enough rest, taking care of it.
00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:57.279
And so that's an important piece.
00:32:58.159 --> 00:33:17.759
Yeah, I think a a big problem too in the dance world sometimes is that these dancers put so much pressure on themselves and they move away to a school at an age where they're maybe not ready to live on their own and not not know how to take care of themselves and do the laundry and shopping.
00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:38.399
And so they they go to these schools and they're too young, and they fall into the spiral of trying to be perfect and they don't have the parental support they need, or just something is lacking in their support system because they're not physically there.
00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:49.440
So I I fear that some parents and students are too eager to move to the next big school when it's too young, when they're too young.
00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:56.639
I think it should be like 16 is the age that dancers should consider that it's maybe time to move.
00:33:56.960 --> 00:33:57.519
Yeah.
00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:07.279
Yeah, perfectionism is a huge piece, and and there's such an internal push and a competition with, you know, I need to get ahead.
00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:13.760
I need to get ahead of not so much stepping on people, but just I need to keep moving forward in my career.
00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:20.480
And you know, it's interesting because for you, it sounds like your mom was with you all the time.
00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:22.240
So that probably really helped.
00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:26.320
That that did help me because I was not ready to move on my own.
00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:33.200
And if I didn't have her, Lord knows how things could have turned out.
00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:37.119
But she was really supportive of me and my dance journey.
00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:43.280
And just with the situation that we had at the time, it it made sense for her to relocate.
00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:46.400
And it it worked out for both of us.
00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:48.000
So Yeah.
00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:54.240
Um I saw that you so how'd you end up at State Street?
00:34:55.119 --> 00:35:05.279
Um during COVID, um, I was I was living in California, and I was coming up to Santa Barbara just for a vacation.
00:35:05.759 --> 00:35:09.360
And I saw that I knew that there was a ballet company here.
00:35:09.519 --> 00:35:14.480
So I looked up the company and I saw the auditions were the same weekend I was coming up.
00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:16.800
So I was like, perfect, I'm gonna audition.
00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:23.039
And it was uh in the outside studio at the time, um, 2021.
00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:23.519
Right.
00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:27.119
They they built an outside studio, so I auditioned on that.
00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:38.639
And I talked to the directors and they were really interested in me, and it just worked out perfectly that I I got the job and I found a place out here.
00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:44.719
And I started I started here in 2021 with a big collaboration.
00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:48.480
The first performance I did was called Kismet, the musical.
00:35:48.639 --> 00:36:02.400
It's sponsored by um a local donor here for her birthday that brought together a director from New York, Monty Price, and some Broadway actors from New York and Cesar Ballet were the dancers in it.
00:36:02.719 --> 00:36:11.039
So it brought back this revival of this best musical, and I got to be part of it.
00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:15.599
And so that really reinvigorated my love for musical theater, because that's where I started.
00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:18.559
And it was called Kismet, it's called Fate.
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:40.960
I never expected to end up here, and life just has funny ways of working out, and the path is it's you never know what can happen.
00:36:41.039 --> 00:36:42.639
Everybody's path is so different.
00:36:42.960 --> 00:36:46.239
But I've been here five years and it's been really good to me.
00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:47.920
I'm really glad to hear that.
00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:49.840
I mean, it we never know.
00:36:50.960 --> 00:37:06.079
I think we have these ideas of what we think our life should look like, and many times that's not whatever you believe in, God, the higher power, whatever, it's like they have a different path.
00:37:06.320 --> 00:37:16.719
And so we have to be open to the things that are um, you know, given to us or the doors that open.
00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:17.920
So exactly.
00:37:18.159 --> 00:37:26.159
Yes, you you take it as it comes, you roll at the punches, and you just take it all with a smile and an open mind.
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:27.759
Yeah.
00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:32.400
Well, you've had to take a lot of um, you've had to do that a lot, it seems like.
00:37:34.239 --> 00:37:37.759
I've yeah, I've built some resilience.
00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:42.719
I yeah, you don't know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.
00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:43.599
Yeah.
00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:47.039
Do you feel like mom is with you?
00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:52.559
You know, like I I carry her every day.
00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:56.719
And so it's I don't miss, I don't miss her.
00:37:56.800 --> 00:38:04.400
I I very much so miss talking to her and things, but her presence is still felt every day in my soul, so in my heart.
00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:09.679
Yeah, and you're getting to do what mom felt your calling was.
00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:15.279
You know, she she helped you find that calling, so that's really special.
00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:23.279
Yeah, it's the dance has just brought so many amazing things into my life, so many great people.
00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:32.320
I've traveled so many beautiful places and had so many opportunities to learn about myself and grow in this art.
00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:40.239
And I think people underestimate that when they're young, they don't they can't see that past the next few years.
00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:49.920
But it it even the small wins are wins, and it's dance is a beautiful world to be part of.
00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:52.000
It is, it is.
00:38:52.880 --> 00:38:56.239
I am so thankful that you joined me today.
00:38:56.400 --> 00:39:03.679
Like, um, and I can't wait to come see you dance at State Street since you are less than an hour away from me.
00:39:04.079 --> 00:39:05.679
Yeah, I'm not far at all.
00:39:05.920 --> 00:39:09.519
We have our next show is May 8th and 9th.
00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:13.199
It's Chaplin, so very excited for that.
00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:19.119
And um, what is your favorite role that you have danced at State Street?
00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:21.119
Oh boy.
00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:30.639
I've been lucky to have so many great opportunities here and perform so many in great places.
00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:36.800
The most recent production we did was really cool for me.
00:39:37.360 --> 00:39:41.519
And as a big ballet nerd, I was loving it.
00:39:41.759 --> 00:39:57.519
We got to perform Interplay by Jerome Robbins, which Jerome Robbins is an iconic choreographer who choreographed the original Westside story on the town, The King and I, and a lot of works for New York City Ballet and ABT.
00:39:57.679 --> 00:40:01.360
And Interplay was his second ballet ever created.
00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:05.679
It is eight kids on an on a playground.
00:40:06.159 --> 00:40:11.199
And the first section is called Free Play, it's a group section.
00:40:11.440 --> 00:40:15.039
The second section is called Horseplay, and it's a solo.
00:40:15.759 --> 00:40:20.000
And I was so fortunate to be able to perform this difficult solo.
00:40:20.320 --> 00:40:22.400
And I'm just trying to have fun with the guys.
00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:29.519
I'm I'm horse playing, and um, it's so great to watch um for all ages.
00:40:29.679 --> 00:40:35.920
Uh the third section is called, I believe, foreplay, and it's a potada.
00:40:36.719 --> 00:40:39.119
And the last section is called team play.
00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:42.400
And so we pick teams and we're trying to come out compete each other.
00:40:42.559 --> 00:40:48.559
Um, this part of it is very fun and difficult for the guys.
00:40:48.719 --> 00:40:54.000
I start off with, I do one double tour, and the next guy comes and he'll do double tour, double tour.
00:40:54.159 --> 00:40:56.639
And then the third guy comes and he does three in a row.
00:40:56.719 --> 00:40:59.920
And then the fourth guy comes and he has to do four double tours in a row.
00:41:00.159 --> 00:41:05.119
But it's just so fun to watch, and it's a real challenge because those four double tours are hard.
00:41:05.279 --> 00:41:08.000
And so it's live beater, anything could happen.
00:41:08.239 --> 00:41:20.559
And we kind of have live reactions on the side, like every time is a little bit different, dependent on like, oh, dang it, like he got us this time, or like, haha, like we're on playground teasing each other a little bit.
00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:23.519
Um, I had a lot of fun in that production.
00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:38.639
So I it brought me back to like my musical theater roots too, because a lot of the the movement is very pedestrian, and the audience can see themselves in that in the dancer.
00:41:39.279 --> 00:41:44.000
And I think that it's such great variety.
00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:52.320
Um, there's so much variety in ballet, it's not just the white tutus and the whatever.
00:41:52.480 --> 00:42:01.599
It's ballet can come in so many different shapes and forms that are so fun to watch and require such versatile movement, and all ages can enjoy.
00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:14.559
And so I think if if dance if audiences who might not know ballet were able to come out and see some of these classic works, that would it would just surprise them that accessible balletists.
00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:17.440
Yeah, it's not just Swan Lake and the Nutcracker.
00:42:17.599 --> 00:42:19.279
There's so much in between.
00:42:19.440 --> 00:42:31.119
Uh, Jerome Robbins, I think, was a very key person who went between Broadway and ballet, you know, and and brought the two together.
00:42:31.199 --> 00:42:41.519
And then, I don't know, I think it was in the 90s he did Jerome Robbins Broadway and put all the collection of all his dance together on Broadway.
00:42:41.599 --> 00:42:43.199
So it was pretty amazing.
00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:44.639
Um that's great.
00:42:44.880 --> 00:42:56.880
Um, another favorite role that I've been able to do was this fall, I had the opportunity to do Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.
00:42:57.440 --> 00:43:07.519
And this was a new production with new sets and costumes and choreography by Neilis Martins and our director, Megan Phillip.
00:43:07.679 --> 00:43:14.559
And so my girlfriend at the time and I got to do Romeo and Juliet together.
00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:26.000
And after the final show during Bows, I ran off stage and I got a ring and I proposed to my girlfriend.
00:43:26.480 --> 00:43:31.519
And she she said yes, thankfully, because there was a live audience.
00:43:31.840 --> 00:43:36.000
And yeah, it was just like the most amazing moment I've ever had.
00:43:36.159 --> 00:43:54.800
And doing Romeo, which is every guy's dream role, with your real life partner, um, and just the Terry on top, we broke everybody's heart at the end of the show, and then we got to sew them back together because we got to share our love with everybody.
00:43:54.960 --> 00:43:59.360
It was just that that was an iconic moment I will never forget.
00:43:59.599 --> 00:44:00.719
That's very cool.
00:44:00.880 --> 00:44:02.159
That is very cool.
00:44:02.400 --> 00:44:04.239
So, did you are you getting married?
00:44:04.320 --> 00:44:05.360
Did you get married?
00:44:05.599 --> 00:44:07.039
Uh, we are married now.
00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:07.599
Yeah.
00:44:07.759 --> 00:44:09.360
Oh, congratulations.
00:44:09.679 --> 00:44:15.759
Yeah, we got engaged in October and in November of 2025, we eloped.
00:44:15.920 --> 00:44:18.320
So where'd you elope to?
00:44:18.639 --> 00:44:20.719
Uh, we in Santa Barbara.
00:44:20.960 --> 00:44:25.440
Santa Barbara is the destination wedding spot.
00:44:25.759 --> 00:44:28.079
So why not stay here?
00:44:28.400 --> 00:44:30.159
I got married in Santa Barbara.
00:44:30.320 --> 00:44:32.159
I got married in the courthouse.
00:44:32.480 --> 00:44:33.199
Oh, nice.
00:44:33.360 --> 00:44:33.679
Okay.
00:44:33.920 --> 00:44:47.119
Yeah, we we eloped, and we have a friend who has a beautiful estate here with sweeping views of Santa Barbara, and she was so generous to have us at her place.
00:44:47.440 --> 00:44:48.480
Oh, that's nice.
00:44:48.639 --> 00:44:49.279
That's beautiful.
00:44:49.440 --> 00:44:50.800
Well, congratulations.
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:55.920
Um I want to thank you for your time and just sharing your story.
00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:06.000
It's so inspirational, I think, to other people and what you're doing for male dancers and all the way around.
00:45:06.239 --> 00:45:07.360
Very special.
00:45:07.759 --> 00:45:09.440
So thank you, Ryan.
00:45:09.519 --> 00:45:10.960
Um thank you so much.
00:45:11.039 --> 00:45:14.719
It's it's been great and I appreciate it.
00:45:14.960 --> 00:45:15.599
Yeah.
00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:30.480
So it, you know, I I I do want to tell people about your Instagram, because if they ever wanted to send reach out to you about the mail dance connection or so, how can they reach you?
00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:34.239
Yeah, the my personal Instagram is Ryan Linke.
00:45:34.800 --> 00:45:38.559
And you can also reach out to me at the Mail Dance Connection.
00:45:38.719 --> 00:45:41.679
Um, just spelled out the mail dance connection.
00:45:41.920 --> 00:45:42.239
Okay.
00:45:42.400 --> 00:45:45.519
Um, yeah and Lenkey spelled L-E-N-K-E-Y.
00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:47.840
That's right, L-E-N-K-E-Y.
00:45:48.320 --> 00:45:48.639
Okay.
00:45:49.039 --> 00:45:50.800
So you know how to reach Ryan.
00:45:51.360 --> 00:45:54.880
As always, thank you for joining the Tutu Thin podcast.
00:45:55.119 --> 00:46:07.920
You can reach me through my website at dawn theodore.com, tutin.com, mothermeninme.com, or at my Instagram at dawn.smith.theodore.
00:46:08.159 --> 00:46:15.279
And if you're in the LA area in April and would like to come by the LA Festival of Books, I will be there.
00:46:15.440 --> 00:46:17.679
And this time I have a different booth.
00:46:17.759 --> 00:46:21.279
It's booth 180 on April 18th and 19th.
00:46:21.440 --> 00:46:23.039
So thank you again for listening.
00:46:23.199 --> 00:46:24.719
Have a wonderful day.
00:00:49.199 --> 00:00:51.759
So welcome to the Two Tooth Thin podcast.
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My name is Don Smith Theodore, and thank you to all the listeners.
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Today I have a very special guest.
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His name is Ryan Lenke, and he is from the State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara.
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And I'm gonna let him tell you a little bit about himself, but I'm really excited to have him here.
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And so welcome, Ryan.
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Thank you so much.
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Thank you for having me.
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I'm so happy to be here.
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Um yeah, I'm Ryan Lenke.
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I am a dancer at State Street Ballet in California.
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I've been here since 2021.
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And I'm also associate director of the Male Dance Connection, which is a company that was created during COVID when we saw some boys falling through the cracks.
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And we're here to support the Brotherhood and keep guys in dance and offer supplemental training at our events and Zoom privates.
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Um I'm also a NASA certified sports nutritionist and a student at St.
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Mary's College of California.
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Oh, what are you studying at St.
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Mary's?
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So I'm currently in their LEAT program, which is a program for professional dancers.
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And so I will be getting my BFA in dance performance.
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Oh, that's great.
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That's great.
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It's been great so far.
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So, okay, let's start with how did you get into dance?
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Okay.
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Uh I fell into dance when I was nine years old.
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And I was really inspired after my mom took me to see Billy Ellie at the music hall on Broadway in New York.
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And after seeing that, I was I was transfixed.
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And I was like, I want to do that.
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That looks so fun, so cool.
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I want to be like that kid on stage.
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And the week I got back, I started dance classes.
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Um I started with privates because I was just starting, didn't want to be with the girls.
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It was kind of um let's see.
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Where did you grow up?
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Where did you, where were you living at the time?
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Yeah, so I I'm originally from Wheeling, West Virginia.
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And in Wheeling is a small town um at the very top of the panhandle of the state.
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And there was a studio there that offered me a great like starting place.
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I I danced with them for like six months, but I was like, oh, I want to keep dancing.
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I want more.
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And so my mom found a Broadway dance studio that's uh now closed down, Karen Pronzik's Broadway dance studio.
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And I danced there for a year and I trained in tap and jazz and musical theater and ballet.
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But that I was always really interested in ballet because that was there was so much structure to it, and it was so challenging and rewarding and fun.
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So I eventually told my mom I wanted to do more ballet, and I ended up going to Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, where I had a great male teacher, Peter Merz, who coached me through some competitions and the ups and downs of my life.
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And that was a really good place for me.
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Um so I was really inspired.
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Musical theater was my start, and that was my first love, and I was obsessed.
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And my mom spoiled me every time a show would come into Pittsburgh.
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We were there, New York trip once a year, seeing a show.
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She grew up in dance and musical theater, and so she helped cultivate that love and passion in me once she saw the spark.
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And I'm I'm grateful for her because um Wheeling, West Virginia, there is not many opportunities for dancing and training.
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And so my mom would drive an hour every day to Pittsburgh, and I would I would dance for four hours there, five hours, however many days a week, and she would drive home.
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So she was really committed to making sure I got the best training I could.
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That's amazing.
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Uh, kudos to mom.
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Uh her name is Dawn as well.
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Oh, really?
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Um, I did not know that um I'm from Ohio, I'm from Cincinnati, so nearby, but I didn't actually realize that wheeling was that close to Pittsburgh.
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So what a great experience to be able to go to the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet because that's a great training ground.
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Yes, I I had some of my my first opportunities there.
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The the director at the time, Jean Gedian, she saw something in me when I first auditioned, and she immediately I made me the prince in the nutcracker.
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And I so that was kind of immediately she saw something in me that helped pull that out.
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And I I just loved it, and I loved the people there and the community was great, good teachers and friends.
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And after that, it I had a really awesome opportunity.
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Um, the director I had a connection to Dean Abergell of New York City Ballet, who was the children's rehearsal master.
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And I auditioned for Romeo and Juliet.
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Um sorry, let me let me go back.
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When I was 12 years old, my director invited me to audition for this New York City ballet production of Romeo and Juliet, and they needed a mandolin boy, and this is a group of five boys that dance.
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There's one lead boy and four who are doing cute tumbling, and it's very fun turns, cabrioles.
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So I auditioned for this and I actually got casted.
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And so I worked really hard and trained before I went to Saratoga Springs, and I got to perform with Near Sea Ballet, a professional company at 12 years old, and I got to dance on stage with them.
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I got to do a bow, and it was just such an amazing opportunity.
00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:19.760
And I think Jean Gettian at Pittsburgh Youth Ballet trained so many amazing dancers, and I was so grateful that I had got time to work with her.
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I was, I feel like I was part of the last generation of that group of Pittsburgh Youth Ballet.
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And because shortly after I left, she retired and it has rebranded now to um Texture Ballet School, and it's connected to Texture Contemporary Ballet Company.
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My old teacher from he was in the in the system at PYB and he took over the school and he had a company at the time.
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So he rebranded it and they're still they're doing great work there.
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And I'm actually performing with them again this summer.
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I I'm returning home to Pittsburgh and doing a show with them in July.
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So it's so great to return home to those same studios that trained me.
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And now I get to go back and dance alongside my teacher and in a professional environment and perform in Pittsburgh.
00:08:13.520 --> 00:08:33.759
So and it also has to give the students like it must be exciting for the students to have somebody come back who's gone through the school, even if it's been rebranded, and have them dance there and see what's possible.
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Yeah.
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It's great seeing some people in Pittsburgh who were like, oh, I was six years old when you were at PYB, but I remember you, and yeah, now I'm a senior, or it's funny, it's a very small world, the ballet world is very small, and I run into people all the time, and there's always a mutual connection somewhere.
00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:06.159
So did you do a lot of summer intensives, you know, as a as a student?
00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:16.399
I I did um my first summer intensive was after my first like six months of actual dancing.
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I I went to the rock school.
00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:18.639
Oh yeah.
00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:22.959
And that was that's also made me realize I like ballet a lot.
00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:30.639
Um after that, I did the Point Park International Dance Intensive, and that's a college in Pittsburgh.
00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:35.839
And that's where I met my teacher who who trained me, Peter Mers.
00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:41.919
He helped me very integral time my dance training at like 12 to 14.
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He helped me make sure I was getting a foundation and proper mindset.
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Um so I did those two summer intensives, and the next summer I performed in Saratoga.
00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:00.240
So I was working with a school there.
00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:06.480
I was training at a school there, as well as rehearsing for um the show.
00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:15.439
And after that, because I was I I worked with New York City ballet, I became obsessed with School of American Ballet and SAB.
00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:21.039
A lot of young dancers are deterred get determined to go there for the summer.
00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:25.839
And I I went there for the summer of 13 years old.
00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:29.439
This was my first real time, like staying away from home.
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And I had a great experience there.
00:10:34.719 --> 00:10:37.599
I really wanted to join the school for the year-round.
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And I I didn't get asked, and I was very crushed, honestly, by that.
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But the next summer, I was determined to go back and get it again and get into this the year-round program.
00:10:53.120 --> 00:11:09.599
And a lot of students have this mentality when they go to the summer intensive and there's a pre-pro school attached to it, or if it's a company affiliated school, they're also stressed and they're always like, Oh, did you hear that they got the they got asked to stay for the year?
00:11:09.839 --> 00:11:12.399
And it's such a toxic mentality.
00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:15.120
Um, but I fell into that.
00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:22.079
And because I didn't get asked the second summer, I was very discouraged and I I felt like quitting.
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Every young dancer has a time in their life where they'll they'll consider quitting or not.
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Is this something I really want to do?
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And it's important to have that and then to face the reality of do I want to do this as a career because it's a real commitment.
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And if you make it and you're still passionate and you have the will to make it happen and be determined, it can happen.
00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:55.279
It's but it's hard to there are these traps that are very easy to fall into in the ballet world.
00:11:55.519 --> 00:12:06.159
And it's not all dependent on if you get asked into the one summer, if you get asked into the one school from the summer intensive, because there, if that's not the path for you, and then that's not the path for you.
00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:12.639
There's so many great schools out there, large and small, that that can take you.
00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:21.120
And so I learned that after um that second summer at SAV, I was discouraged and I was like, yeah, I don't want to go back to my old school.
00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:25.120
Like I was ready to like move somewhere, but I just don't know where.
00:12:25.599 --> 00:12:40.319
And my old teacher, Peter, reached out to Peter Stark at Next Generation Ballet, and at 15, or yes, at 15, I had just turned 15, we moved to Tampa.
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My mom and I had just moved to Tampa to get me um better ballet training at Next Generation Ballet, and it was great.
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It was going well.
00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:52.879
Uh, like the first few months were great.
00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:57.919
I was finally in an environment where there were other male dancers there.
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And so having that around me just reinvigorated me because I could have that friendly competition and the camaraderie and just somebody to relate to.
00:13:07.599 --> 00:13:15.120
Because when I was when I was training in Pittsburgh before we had moved, I was the only boy at my studio.
00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:19.919
And I was in the high school class with all these like very talented girls.
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They were all like my friends, so sweet to me.
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But I definitely was missing just that buddy buddy, um, and doing double tours together after class.
00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:38.959
Um, I was always, it was always addressed as okay, ladies, fuetes, ladies and gentlemen.
00:13:39.199 --> 00:13:42.959
Um, let's do it's always ladies and gentlemen.
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So it was nice to be in a place where it was ladies and gentlemen.
00:13:47.439 --> 00:13:59.919
But there's a when I was after three months into next generation ballet in the fall, I got a stress fracture in my heel.
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:03.679
I landed a jump and I just felt something happen.
00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:07.839
And that was like my first injury, and I was in a boot and I was dealing with it.
00:14:08.079 --> 00:14:11.199
But I couldn't do nutcracker that year.
00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:13.039
And that was okay.
00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:35.199
I was helping out backstage, and in between shows, I went home, and on my way back from the theater, I was actually crossing the street, and somebody had ran a red light going 50 miles per hour, and they hit me.
00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:39.599
And so I was hit by this car going very fast.
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Um, and I was knocked unconscious immediately.
00:14:44.159 --> 00:15:02.959
And my mom tried calling me, and a police officer picked up, and I was in the hospital, and they they told my mom they brought them to the um the priest, which is not a good sign, and they told her, like, they're not sure if I'll survive.
00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:07.519
And if I do, there's a very big chance I could be paralyzed the rest of my life.
00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:16.399
And so my first memory was waking up and seeing my mom and a friend, uh my friend's mom.
00:15:16.719 --> 00:15:24.639
And I was I couldn't speak, I had a breath, I had um oxygen and a lung AI, sorry, what's it called?
00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:25.839
Like insubated.
00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:28.399
Yes, I I had a chest tube in.
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My first memory when I woke up was I couldn't really speak, but I was so confused.
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I tried to sign like what happened, and she told me I was in the hospital and I was okay.
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Um, and I just went back to sleep.
00:15:40.719 --> 00:15:55.120
So I was in the ICU for 10 days, and after that, I I was happy that my stress fracture was gonna be healed, but I I knew I had a long like road to recovery, and that wasn't gonna be easy.
00:15:55.439 --> 00:16:00.240
But I still was like, I'm a dancer, like I can do it, like there's no problem.
00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:12.319
And I just had so much support, and I had to learn how to walk again, and I was dealing with a a lot of residual traumatic brain injury things.
00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:26.159
It was a really bad concussion, and so I was dealing with dizziness and and migraines, but I was able to get back in the studio just like three months later.
00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:34.639
I just started slowly like trying to do baby bar, and I was going to physical therapy.
00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:42.959
And that summer, I stayed at Next Generation Ballet Summer, and I was getting healthier, and I was still living with my mom.
00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:46.559
He was taking great care of me, and I just had a great support system there.
00:16:46.639 --> 00:17:03.439
It was a very healthy environment at Next Generation, and I always I recommend that school to students who are who are looking for that next like step in their pre-pro training, but don't want a strict, scary environment.
00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:04.720
It's very family-friendly.
00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:07.200
Tampa's a great place to live, safe.
00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:10.400
Um, but they have they have great people there.
00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:27.120
And I was able to recover from my car accident, and from there, I would I moved to Boston with my mom, and I joined them there as a trainee.
00:17:27.360 --> 00:17:29.440
And that was a great, great experience.
00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:31.599
It was my first time working with the company.
00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:41.839
I I was able to get great training on my own with the trainees, and then we would be under studying or in the company show.
00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:48.240
So we would be in the back of rehearsal watching all the amazing things happen, and it's so inspiring.
00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:50.720
Um that that was my first.
00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:52.480
Was that Boston Ballet?
00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:53.519
Boston Ballet.
00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:55.279
Yes, this is at Boston Ballet.
00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:58.000
Yeah, and they're they're a great company, they're a powerhouse.
00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:12.000
But that's that was a tough year for me though, um, because my mom, my mom had been diagnosed with cancer during my time in Tampa, and it was very aggressive cancer.
00:18:12.159 --> 00:18:17.200
And so the Boston winter, it she declined very fast.
00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:21.279
I had been injured, so dance wasn't going well.
00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:30.159
And from there, um, she ended up passing away that summer in June.
00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:36.480
It was like a year from her diagnosis to her passing.
00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:50.480
And so from there, I was like, it was very hard, but I knew I had to do it all for my mom and that she wouldn't want me to mope around, and she would want me to stay on this path that she helped push me on.
00:18:50.639 --> 00:19:04.240
And so with that, I I built, I turned the adversity into fuel, and I just put more into my tondus and I put more into my my jumps, and I just worked harder.
00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:11.759
Um yeah, I I had moved to Ballet West and I had moved to Salt Lake City to train at Ballet West after that.
00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:21.440
And I was I was working really hard, and I had a lot of help from my friends around me, and that was a really important transition period for me.
00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:41.680
Those trainee years can be really tough for dancers, but it is really important because you learn how to provide for yourself and how to live independently, and how to take care of yourself amongst it all, and how to pay rent.
00:19:42.000 --> 00:20:03.200
And it's a big, it's tough, but it's a big wake-up call for a lot of people, and it's an important transition because going 18, 17 years old, it's it's a confusing world, but that helps you kind of just understand it a little bit more and how you're gonna maneuver through it.
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.119
Um Wow, I just have to stop you.
00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:10.960
You had a lot of no, but it's trauma dumping.
00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:23.119
No, but it's interesting because you know, I reached out to you because I was really interested in the sports nutrition and all the things that you've done uh with the male dance connection.
00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:25.279
I had no idea about all of this.
00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:27.759
So you this is just the intro.
00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:33.359
Well, you've you have um overcome a lot, you know.
00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:39.359
And I do feel like, you know, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, you know.
00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:57.680
Yeah so I the biggest thing I mean I've learned through ballet, and the only reason I've been able to make it through and be strong enough is just the resilience I've learned and the discipline of doing what you have to do, even if you don't want to.
00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:08.879
Um and just being able to to have things bounce off of you and keeping the blinders on and and staying focused on what's important to you.
00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:27.519
Um it's I've learned so much through ballet, and I don't think I would have been able to recover from my car accident if it hadn't been for ballet for the training I had before the resilience I physical resilience I built and being able to train with that after made me so much stronger.
00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:29.359
Yeah, yeah.
00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:36.960
Um and I mean it had to be really hard because it sounds like mom was your best cheerleader, you know?
00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:46.480
Yeah, she was your huge support and went wherever you needed to go to take you to make sure you had what you needed for ballet.
00:21:47.039 --> 00:22:02.799
Yeah, she really was the biggest support, and she taught me so many tools just by being around her and and just seeing how passionate she was and how she meant it, how she operated it all.
00:22:02.879 --> 00:22:06.559
I learned so much from her, and she was my yeah, my best friend.
00:22:06.879 --> 00:22:24.639
But I some things in life are out of your control, and the only thing you can control is how you respond to it and how you you have to process it and you have to grieve, but you can't let it be all-consuming that you lose your path.
00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:25.920
You can't dwell.
00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:29.039
I mean, it's like you do, you it's a process.
00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:41.279
The grieving the grieving is a process, but you can't get stuck in the victim mode, you know, and it sounds like you really took all of that and used it to propel yourself forward in whatever you wanted to do.
00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:42.079
Yeah.
00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:48.639
And all of my work through Mail Dance Connection and all of my professional.
00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:51.359
Career is devoted for her.
00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:57.359
And it's all it's all in honor of her legacy and everything that she gave me.
00:22:57.519 --> 00:22:59.119
So yeah.
00:22:59.519 --> 00:22:59.759
Yeah.
00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:00.240
Okay.
00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:02.559
So let's talk about the male dance connection.
00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:12.960
So that happened during, because there sounds like, you know, you didn't have a lot of male bonding when you were at Pittsburgh Youth Ballet.
00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:17.599
And then it was good for you when you went to the next generation.
00:23:18.399 --> 00:23:29.279
But let's talk about, you know, being a male dancer in the ballet world and what made you decide to start this?
00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:37.039
Because I think it is a really important, it's an it's important uh education for male dancers.
00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:39.359
Yeah.
00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:47.519
Being the only boy at my studio for so long, I know firsthand how it feels.
00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:50.240
And it can feel isolating.
00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:56.879
So the male dance connection is literally literally built off of the name.
00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:01.920
It's connecting people because that is what art is all about.
00:24:02.159 --> 00:24:07.039
It's the connection with the audience, it's the connection with your peers on stage.
00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:10.480
So it's the connections in the studio.
00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:14.639
And it's it you it's impossible to do it alone.
00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:18.799
And we want to make sure that there are no guys out there doing it alone.
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:37.279
And now with with the resources we have nowadays, it's a virtual platform as well as these in-person events where I see these guys come every every summer and winter intensive that we do, and they see each other again, and it's they click, you know, they're best friends.
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:41.680
They they talk about who they've hung out with recently and what they're watching.
00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:48.960
And it's just it's great seeing these kids and these these adults like connecting over ballet.
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:50.720
It's such a special thing we do.
00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:54.720
So, where do you hold the like the ones in the summer?
00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:58.480
You said virtual, is it virtually like throughout the year, maybe?
00:24:58.639 --> 00:25:02.159
And then you do like summer and winter, or how do you do it?
00:25:02.399 --> 00:25:02.799
Yeah.
00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:17.200
So our summer and winter intensives are currently held in Denver, Colorado, because my business partner, Bryce Lee, is a soloist at Colorado Ballet, and he's located there.
00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:24.159
And so we've been using the studios and his amazing dance connections um as teachers.
00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:28.399
But we have held them in Orange County, California before as well.
00:25:28.639 --> 00:25:34.879
And very soon uh we we hope to expand and get out to the East Coast.
00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:52.319
Yeah, but the virtual um programs that we offer, we do these town hall talks that are free, and we discuss things like summer intensives or the path to a professional career.
00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.559
How do I transition from pre-pro to student?
00:25:54.639 --> 00:26:00.399
So we have these guest speakers come on and share their thoughts, and we have a QA.
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:14.960
Um, it's many of them are open to parents and students because we're just trying to help navigate the ballet world together, and it can be confusing, but we're here to just kind of be the bridge that they may need.
00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:15.680
Yeah.
00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:39.200
That's sorry, most of our online things, we have a Sunday like boys class and it's a Zoom class, and we just consolidate to our rooms, make it very effective, small drills and exercises, and a lot of breaking things down, mindset training, as well as privates.
00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:53.839
We also do private lessons, and that's always so great because we can tackle the variation that they're working on, or tackle something they need help for an audition, or just wherever you need.
00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:56.799
It's we offer supplemental training.
00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:01.200
We're not trying to become the school, only school that they train with.
00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:14.399
We just are here to help out these studios that may not know what to do with their only boy and don't know how to work double tours, and we're here to to offer some assistance with the studios.
00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:28.639
I wish you'd been there when I had my dance studio because I had you know 25 years, and I know I had a one boy, he ended up going to Juilliard and now dances in Europe, but it was hard.
00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:30.240
It's hard to have one boy.
00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:35.039
So where was my studio located?
00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:37.920
Calabasas in California.
00:27:38.159 --> 00:27:40.000
So close by.
00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:42.000
So okay, I love that.
00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:43.279
I love what you're doing.
00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:46.399
So, and then now tell me about the nutritional part.
00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:51.440
How'd you get into that and wanting to do the sports nutrition?
00:27:52.960 --> 00:28:02.639
I I've always been so interested in the nutrition aspect of things, how to take care of yourself properly and how to fuel yourself properly.
00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:10.000
Because I noticed in the ballet world, there's so many outdated ways of thinking when it comes to diet.
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:17.119
And I see a lot of dancers that are not helping themselves enough.
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:36.399
And so I decided to get my education with NASA and become sports new sports nutrition certified because I wanted to actually integrate everything I believe and am passionate about into what I do in my teaching.
00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:49.359
And so, in just the way I live, I want to embody my philosophy more so of dancers are endurance-like athletes, and we need to fuel ourselves like that.
00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:59.599
We need to make sure we're we're snacking enough in between rehearsals, and we need to make sure we're getting enough protein and calories.
00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:03.839
It's it's crucial to what we do.
00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:14.000
So, I mean, you know, I'm a former dancer, I recovered from anorexia, and I am now an eating disorder therapist.
00:29:14.159 --> 00:29:18.159
So I deal with a lot of dancers who have eating disorders.
00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:29.279
Um, and I'm curious, like in your experience with uh sports nutrition, do you find a lot of dancers who are really struggling with eating disorders?
00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:46.159
Or disordered eating, maybe it's in my in my uh teachings with working with male dancers mostly, when it comes to nutrition, I don't see so much disordered eating.
00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:53.839
I just see not consistent uh behaviors and not healthy habits.
00:29:54.960 --> 00:30:13.119
It's it's really just a lack of awareness that I I think people have that the lay man needs a certain amount of calories, but as a dancer in our high training environments, we need many more than that.
00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:17.920
We need to add at least like a third of what a normal person would consume.
00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:32.799
So it's it's hard to find the right perfect supplements for that because everybody is so unique in their preferences and things, but trying to trying to just instill good habits in people when I can.
00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:35.759
And yeah.
00:30:36.399 --> 00:30:45.920
And it's really different from men for men than women, because I think there's a lot of pressure put on women in the ballet world to be a certain size.
00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:50.399
And um, I don't know if you feel it's that way for men.
00:30:52.000 --> 00:31:06.639
Um I think for men it's very hard because we we're still in front of a mirror all day, and we want to have the aesthetic lines, and we want to look slender.
00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:07.279
I don't know.
00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:10.639
It's it's just instilled in the culture.
00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:24.960
But when you're 16 and you're thinking like that, and you're thinking about how can I still stay this skinny, that's so unlike how it should be.
00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:32.399
Um I see a lot of male dancers are just they're trying to still remain slim.
00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:35.359
I need to I need to be skinny and lean.
00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:46.879
But the reality of that is that you can build a lot of strength and still be lean if you just are feeling yourself enough.
00:31:47.200 --> 00:32:01.200
And it's uh male dancers have have these pressures on them that they have to be expected to lift and partner these girls and support them, but they don't know how to actually take care of themselves to make that possible.
00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:11.839
And it comes, you gotta put in some work, you gotta make that protein shake, you gotta eat that protein bar even if you're only kind of hungry.
00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:14.799
It's you just need to supplement it where you can.
00:32:14.879 --> 00:32:23.839
And there's a lot of like small windows of opportunity that are missed by students and professionals alike that is hurting their performance.
00:32:24.079 --> 00:32:30.079
It really, it really can deteriorate your performance inside of the studio and outside of the studio.
00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:34.559
You're gonna not feel great if you're not fueling yourself properly.
00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:36.559
Your body's gonna shut down.
00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:38.799
Yeah, it's true.
00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:45.680
And it is so much of and injuries, you know, it's like you want longevity as a dancer.
00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:54.240
And how you're gonna get that is by having by fueling your body properly, giving it enough rest, taking care of it.
00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:57.279
And so that's an important piece.
00:32:58.159 --> 00:33:17.759
Yeah, I think a a big problem too in the dance world sometimes is that these dancers put so much pressure on themselves and they move away to a school at an age where they're maybe not ready to live on their own and not not know how to take care of themselves and do the laundry and shopping.
00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:38.399
And so they they go to these schools and they're too young, and they fall into the spiral of trying to be perfect and they don't have the parental support they need, or just something is lacking in their support system because they're not physically there.
00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:49.440
So I I fear that some parents and students are too eager to move to the next big school when it's too young, when they're too young.
00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:56.639
I think it should be like 16 is the age that dancers should consider that it's maybe time to move.
00:33:56.960 --> 00:33:57.519
Yeah.
00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:07.279
Yeah, perfectionism is a huge piece, and and there's such an internal push and a competition with, you know, I need to get ahead.
00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:13.760
I need to get ahead of not so much stepping on people, but just I need to keep moving forward in my career.
00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:20.480
And you know, it's interesting because for you, it sounds like your mom was with you all the time.
00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:22.240
So that probably really helped.
00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:26.320
That that did help me because I was not ready to move on my own.
00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:33.200
And if I didn't have her, Lord knows how things could have turned out.
00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:37.119
But she was really supportive of me and my dance journey.
00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:43.280
And just with the situation that we had at the time, it it made sense for her to relocate.
00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:46.400
And it it worked out for both of us.
00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:48.000
So Yeah.
00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:54.240
Um I saw that you so how'd you end up at State Street?
00:34:55.119 --> 00:35:05.279
Um during COVID, um, I was I was living in California, and I was coming up to Santa Barbara just for a vacation.
00:35:05.759 --> 00:35:09.360
And I saw that I knew that there was a ballet company here.
00:35:09.519 --> 00:35:14.480
So I looked up the company and I saw the auditions were the same weekend I was coming up.
00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:16.800
So I was like, perfect, I'm gonna audition.
00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:23.039
And it was uh in the outside studio at the time, um, 2021.
00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:23.519
Right.
00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:27.119
They they built an outside studio, so I auditioned on that.
00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:38.639
And I talked to the directors and they were really interested in me, and it just worked out perfectly that I I got the job and I found a place out here.
00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:44.719
And I started I started here in 2021 with a big collaboration.
00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:48.480
The first performance I did was called Kismet, the musical.
00:35:48.639 --> 00:36:02.400
It's sponsored by um a local donor here for her birthday that brought together a director from New York, Monty Price, and some Broadway actors from New York and Cesar Ballet were the dancers in it.
00:36:02.719 --> 00:36:11.039
So it brought back this revival of this best musical, and I got to be part of it.
00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:15.599
And so that really reinvigorated my love for musical theater, because that's where I started.
00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:18.559
And it was called Kismet, it's called Fate.
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:40.960
I never expected to end up here, and life just has funny ways of working out, and the path is it's you never know what can happen.
00:36:41.039 --> 00:36:42.639
Everybody's path is so different.
00:36:42.960 --> 00:36:46.239
But I've been here five years and it's been really good to me.
00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:47.920
I'm really glad to hear that.
00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:49.840
I mean, it we never know.
00:36:50.960 --> 00:37:06.079
I think we have these ideas of what we think our life should look like, and many times that's not whatever you believe in, God, the higher power, whatever, it's like they have a different path.
00:37:06.320 --> 00:37:16.719
And so we have to be open to the things that are um, you know, given to us or the doors that open.
00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:17.920
So exactly.
00:37:18.159 --> 00:37:26.159
Yes, you you take it as it comes, you roll at the punches, and you just take it all with a smile and an open mind.
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:27.759
Yeah.
00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:32.400
Well, you've had to take a lot of um, you've had to do that a lot, it seems like.
00:37:34.239 --> 00:37:37.759
I've yeah, I've built some resilience.
00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:42.719
I yeah, you don't know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.
00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:43.599
Yeah.
00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:47.039
Do you feel like mom is with you?
00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:52.559
You know, like I I carry her every day.
00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:56.719
And so it's I don't miss, I don't miss her.
00:37:56.800 --> 00:38:04.400
I I very much so miss talking to her and things, but her presence is still felt every day in my soul, so in my heart.
00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:09.679
Yeah, and you're getting to do what mom felt your calling was.
00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:15.279
You know, she she helped you find that calling, so that's really special.
00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:23.279
Yeah, it's the dance has just brought so many amazing things into my life, so many great people.
00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:32.320
I've traveled so many beautiful places and had so many opportunities to learn about myself and grow in this art.
00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:40.239
And I think people underestimate that when they're young, they don't they can't see that past the next few years.
00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:49.920
But it it even the small wins are wins, and it's dance is a beautiful world to be part of.
00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:52.000
It is, it is.
00:38:52.880 --> 00:38:56.239
I am so thankful that you joined me today.
00:38:56.400 --> 00:39:03.679
Like, um, and I can't wait to come see you dance at State Street since you are less than an hour away from me.
00:39:04.079 --> 00:39:05.679
Yeah, I'm not far at all.
00:39:05.920 --> 00:39:09.519
We have our next show is May 8th and 9th.
00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:13.199
It's Chaplin, so very excited for that.
00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:19.119
And um, what is your favorite role that you have danced at State Street?
00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:21.119
Oh boy.
00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:30.639
I've been lucky to have so many great opportunities here and perform so many in great places.
00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:36.800
The most recent production we did was really cool for me.
00:39:37.360 --> 00:39:41.519
And as a big ballet nerd, I was loving it.
00:39:41.759 --> 00:39:57.519
We got to perform Interplay by Jerome Robbins, which Jerome Robbins is an iconic choreographer who choreographed the original Westside story on the town, The King and I, and a lot of works for New York City Ballet and ABT.
00:39:57.679 --> 00:40:01.360
And Interplay was his second ballet ever created.
00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:05.679
It is eight kids on an on a playground.
00:40:06.159 --> 00:40:11.199
And the first section is called Free Play, it's a group section.
00:40:11.440 --> 00:40:15.039
The second section is called Horseplay, and it's a solo.
00:40:15.759 --> 00:40:20.000
And I was so fortunate to be able to perform this difficult solo.
00:40:20.320 --> 00:40:22.400
And I'm just trying to have fun with the guys.
00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:29.519
I'm I'm horse playing, and um, it's so great to watch um for all ages.
00:40:29.679 --> 00:40:35.920
Uh the third section is called, I believe, foreplay, and it's a potada.
00:40:36.719 --> 00:40:39.119
And the last section is called team play.
00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:42.400
And so we pick teams and we're trying to come out compete each other.
00:40:42.559 --> 00:40:48.559
Um, this part of it is very fun and difficult for the guys.
00:40:48.719 --> 00:40:54.000
I start off with, I do one double tour, and the next guy comes and he'll do double tour, double tour.
00:40:54.159 --> 00:40:56.639
And then the third guy comes and he does three in a row.
00:40:56.719 --> 00:40:59.920
And then the fourth guy comes and he has to do four double tours in a row.
00:41:00.159 --> 00:41:05.119
But it's just so fun to watch, and it's a real challenge because those four double tours are hard.
00:41:05.279 --> 00:41:08.000
And so it's live beater, anything could happen.
00:41:08.239 --> 00:41:20.559
And we kind of have live reactions on the side, like every time is a little bit different, dependent on like, oh, dang it, like he got us this time, or like, haha, like we're on playground teasing each other a little bit.
00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:23.519
Um, I had a lot of fun in that production.
00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:38.639
So I it brought me back to like my musical theater roots too, because a lot of the the movement is very pedestrian, and the audience can see themselves in that in the dancer.
00:41:39.279 --> 00:41:44.000
And I think that it's such great variety.
00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:52.320
Um, there's so much variety in ballet, it's not just the white tutus and the whatever.
00:41:52.480 --> 00:42:01.599
It's ballet can come in so many different shapes and forms that are so fun to watch and require such versatile movement, and all ages can enjoy.
00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:14.559
And so I think if if dance if audiences who might not know ballet were able to come out and see some of these classic works, that would it would just surprise them that accessible balletists.
00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:17.440
Yeah, it's not just Swan Lake and the Nutcracker.
00:42:17.599 --> 00:42:19.279
There's so much in between.
00:42:19.440 --> 00:42:31.119
Uh, Jerome Robbins, I think, was a very key person who went between Broadway and ballet, you know, and and brought the two together.
00:42:31.199 --> 00:42:41.519
And then, I don't know, I think it was in the 90s he did Jerome Robbins Broadway and put all the collection of all his dance together on Broadway.
00:42:41.599 --> 00:42:43.199
So it was pretty amazing.
00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:44.639
Um that's great.
00:42:44.880 --> 00:42:56.880
Um, another favorite role that I've been able to do was this fall, I had the opportunity to do Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.
00:42:57.440 --> 00:43:07.519
And this was a new production with new sets and costumes and choreography by Neilis Martins and our director, Megan Phillip.
00:43:07.679 --> 00:43:14.559
And so my girlfriend at the time and I got to do Romeo and Juliet together.
00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:26.000
And after the final show during Bows, I ran off stage and I got a ring and I proposed to my girlfriend.
00:43:26.480 --> 00:43:31.519
And she she said yes, thankfully, because there was a live audience.
00:43:31.840 --> 00:43:36.000
And yeah, it was just like the most amazing moment I've ever had.
00:43:36.159 --> 00:43:54.800
And doing Romeo, which is every guy's dream role, with your real life partner, um, and just the Terry on top, we broke everybody's heart at the end of the show, and then we got to sew them back together because we got to share our love with everybody.
00:43:54.960 --> 00:43:59.360
It was just that that was an iconic moment I will never forget.
00:43:59.599 --> 00:44:00.719
That's very cool.
00:44:00.880 --> 00:44:02.159
That is very cool.
00:44:02.400 --> 00:44:04.239
So, did you are you getting married?
00:44:04.320 --> 00:44:05.360
Did you get married?
00:44:05.599 --> 00:44:07.039
Uh, we are married now.
00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:07.599
Yeah.
00:44:07.759 --> 00:44:09.360
Oh, congratulations.
00:44:09.679 --> 00:44:15.759
Yeah, we got engaged in October and in November of 2025, we eloped.
00:44:15.920 --> 00:44:18.320
So where'd you elope to?
00:44:18.639 --> 00:44:20.719
Uh, we in Santa Barbara.
00:44:20.960 --> 00:44:25.440
Santa Barbara is the destination wedding spot.
00:44:25.759 --> 00:44:28.079
So why not stay here?
00:44:28.400 --> 00:44:30.159
I got married in Santa Barbara.
00:44:30.320 --> 00:44:32.159
I got married in the courthouse.
00:44:32.480 --> 00:44:33.199
Oh, nice.
00:44:33.360 --> 00:44:33.679
Okay.
00:44:33.920 --> 00:44:47.119
Yeah, we we eloped, and we have a friend who has a beautiful estate here with sweeping views of Santa Barbara, and she was so generous to have us at her place.
00:44:47.440 --> 00:44:48.480
Oh, that's nice.
00:44:48.639 --> 00:44:49.279
That's beautiful.
00:44:49.440 --> 00:44:50.800
Well, congratulations.
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:55.920
Um I want to thank you for your time and just sharing your story.
00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:06.000
It's so inspirational, I think, to other people and what you're doing for male dancers and all the way around.
00:45:06.239 --> 00:45:07.360
Very special.
00:45:07.759 --> 00:45:09.440
So thank you, Ryan.
00:45:09.519 --> 00:45:10.960
Um thank you so much.
00:45:11.039 --> 00:45:14.719
It's it's been great and I appreciate it.
00:45:14.960 --> 00:45:15.599
Yeah.
00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:30.480
So it, you know, I I I do want to tell people about your Instagram, because if they ever wanted to send reach out to you about the mail dance connection or so, how can they reach you?
00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:34.239
Yeah, the my personal Instagram is Ryan Linke.
00:45:34.800 --> 00:45:38.559
And you can also reach out to me at the Mail Dance Connection.
00:45:38.719 --> 00:45:41.679
Um, just spelled out the mail dance connection.
00:45:41.920 --> 00:45:42.239
Okay.
00:45:42.400 --> 00:45:45.519
Um, yeah and Lenkey spelled L-E-N-K-E-Y.
00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:47.840
That's right, L-E-N-K-E-Y.
00:45:48.320 --> 00:45:48.639
Okay.
00:45:49.039 --> 00:45:50.800
So you know how to reach Ryan.
00:45:51.360 --> 00:45:54.880
As always, thank you for joining the Tutu Thin podcast.
00:45:55.119 --> 00:46:07.920
You can reach me through my website at dawn theodore.com, tutin.com, mothermeninme.com, or at my Instagram at dawn.smith.theodore.
00:46:08.159 --> 00:46:15.279
And if you're in the LA area in April and would like to come by the LA Festival of Books, I will be there.
00:46:15.440 --> 00:46:17.679
And this time I have a different booth.
00:46:17.759 --> 00:46:21.279
It's booth 180 on April 18th and 19th.
00:46:21.440 --> 00:46:23.039
So thank you again for listening.
00:46:23.199 --> 00:46:24.719
Have a wonderful day.
