A Thrilling Time for Ballet

As part of the 40th Anniversary Heritage Photos series, Cristina shared photos of her time at BBT, beginning in 1986.

Holiday Greetings BBT!

Like many young kids growing up, The Nutcracker was the first ballet I watched and that inspired me to beg my parents to put me in ballet classes. I was with BBT around 1986 and at the time, Sally was choreographing Pygmalion and Robbie did a student outreach version of Alice in Wonderland with Robbie as the Mad Hatter. I wanted to mention how wonderful it was to be part of the small traveling group led by Robbie who drove us in the BBT van to Carmel where we performed The Nutcracker. (See images of Catherine and me who did the Chinese Tea variation). Seems like a lifetime ago and I don’t know if Sally remembers...I can hear Robbie’s sweet laugh and warm smile as he and his mom rehearsed us.

Also pictured are Teresa in Ribbon candy and Marilyn as Spanish Hot Chocolate. Others in the group were Raya Lee and Erica Smith. There are a few early shots of me in the studio as well. I took Sally’s class often alongside Arch Higgins (her prodigy who went on to become a principal at New York City Ballet).

Oh, it was a thrilling time for ballet back then! NYCB came to town and I remember standing next to Kyra at the barre one morning! The small Julia Morgan Theater-based ballet school had some big city ballet roots which really inspired me! I also loved that there was live piano accompaniment (except for Sundays when sally would put on a Symphony in C recording). Fond memories and worth all the sweat and pain!

I really appreciated all Sally and BBT did to encourage their young company and if it wasn’t for these early performance opportunities I never would have followed my dreams to both SFB School and Oakland Ballet! Thanks, Sally, and here’s to carrying on the Nutcracker tradition for more generations of BBT dancers.