My Journey with BBT and Sally Streets

This December, the President of BBT’s Board of Directors, Tienne Lee, shares her story about how she became involved with the organization.

I started dancing ballet at the age of six. Why? Was it the tutus and sparkly stuff? No. This was the 70’s and ballet fashion had not yet reached the levels of coolness and variety that it has now. The Nutcracker? No, I hadn’t seen a single ballet performance yet. So, what was it? Well, I was petite, painfully shy, unathletic, and had never met a ball I didn’t want to get away from. My teacher told my mom that I had to get some sort of physical exercise.

So I chose ballet because there are no balls and no teams to be chosen last for. My mom picked the Oakland Ballet Academy and I started taking pre-ballet classes with Ronn Guidi. Ronn presented his first Nutcracker a few years after I started dancing, and I got to be the first duckling to go under Mother Ginger’s skirt. My mom and others sewed the red dresses we wore and yellow baseball caps served as our duckbills.

It was during that first set of performances that Oakland Ballet sold pointe shoes signed by the Oakland Ballet Company members. I remember that I got the pair signed by Miss Sally. She must have been the Sugar Plum Fairy, I remember that they were the most sought after pairs. I hung them up next to a poster with her picture on it in my bedroom closet.

My memories of Miss Sally in those days are of the person who was the star principal dancer and formidable ballet mistress of the company. She would run some of the rehearsals that went late into the night. She taught the Saturday ballet class and we would all stand up straighter and try a little harder in her classes. I am sure that her students today do the same.

She once taught a master class, and I signed up for it being the bunhead that I had become. It was in this class that she made the observation that very few in the class kept their legs straight enough. And then she proceeded to point to each student in the class that did not bend at the knees. AND I WAS ONE OF THE STUDENTS SHE POINTED TO! That was more than 30 years ago, but I still remember it…

Some 40 years ago, Miss Sally began running the company and school that we all know and love. I remember one of the first performances that her professional company staged at the Julia Morgan Theater. I knew a bunch of the people in the company and I knew the composer, Julian White, who wrote the score for that evening’s full-length ballet. I studied composition with Julian and he told me after the performance that the combination of music and movement was greater than the sum of their parts. So true. And Miss Sally has provided so many opportunities for students and audiences to experience that magical synergy.

I was a better musician and composer than I was a dancer, so my time was spent more at the piano and less in ballet class during my high school years. But, when I had the time, I would hop over to the Julia Morgan Theater for a rigorous class with Miss Sally. I’d strap on my pointe shoes, get ready to sweat, and make sure to keep my legs straight!

My ballet dancing days are now over, but not my love of, and devotion to, the art form. I joined the BBT Board of Directors over two years ago because Miss Sally created a place where everyone can dance ballet; where everyone can experience the joy that the combination of movement and music creates; where lessons in discipline meet grace; and where little kids who don’t want to play dodgeball can get some exercise. Ballet made my body and my mind strong and disciplined and, at the same time, gave me so much joy. I honestly would not have been able to achieve my goals without the foundation that ballet provided. And, I hope that I can be part of supporting and expanding BBT so that it can be there for everyone’s benefit.

Thank you, Miss Sally, for being a part of my ballet upbringing. By the way, I brought your pointe shoes with me to college to decorate my dorm room!