Doris is back.

Dance is an expandable art.

At Ballet Ariel we are done with our first run of Cinderella. BUT-- soon we will be in Casper, Wyoming to tour this fun production and then, onto the outside ampitheater at the Arvada Center (June 7th in the evening-- I'll be providing more details soon!). A couple days later we will be doing our second tour, which will be in Leadville, Colorado. I love Leadville and am so excited to return to that historic theater (we performed "Avoca: A Tale of Molly Brown" there last summer with the company) but it is much harder to breathe up there. That elevation is crazy.

Peter Strand as Peony, my sister (left) and me as Doris in Ballet Ariel's Cinderella

I thought it would be weird to start rehearsals again for a show we've technically "closed" once. But I jumped right back into it like we'd never ended. I think it is because I love my role as one of the Stepsisters so much. Honestly, I believe I was meant to play a Stepsister. Something about the ridiculous silliness that just fits my personality and theatrical streak.

There have been a lot of changes at work lately. But the solidity of coming back to playing my stepsister character Doris-- her pink glasses, the way she fights with Peony (her sister) over EVERYTHING, her ridiculous way of thinking she's sexy when she's actually awkward-- has been great. That's what I love about theater. You can step into another world, out of one that is not always predictable, and just have fun for a while. What is especially fun is that I can come back to Doris and grow this character, make her more and more detailed and complex ("complex" may be stretching it, as she is a more than slightly slapstick comedy character, but there you go). Character development in dance is my favorite expandable art.

What do you go back to again and again in your life when you are going through changes?