Anchorage, Alaska

Rachel List, Catherine Turocy and Sarah Edgar

Catherine Turocy and Patricia Beaman

Jason Melms

Sarah Edgar and Jason Melms


Contributed by Rachel

On Sept. 26, six NYBDC members left New York on quite an adventure. We were to travel to Anchorage, Alaska to perform Catherine Turocy's ballet "Les Petits Riens" with the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. Arriving in Anchorage after a very long journey, we were met at the airport by Catherine and Board member, Peter Brown, who had been the Artistic Director of the Anchorage Opera Company for ten years. Peter was very pleased to be able to introduce us to the city and to the beautiful area surrounding it. It was cloudy and rainy for the first couple of days we were there, so we really only took in the waterfront at first. But then, when the clouds lifted, we were amazed to see majestic, snow-capped mountains surrounding us on three sides. Peter and his friend, Ellen, organized an outing to nearby Portage Glacier and we were able to take in more of the amazing natural landscape on our drive. Once we got into rehearsals with the orchestra, we were very happy to get to know our conductor, Randall Craig Fleischer. He was extremely attentive to the needs of the dancers and very energetic in his leading of the orchestra! The theater was very large and seemed to be practically sold-out for both shows. But the most important thing, as far as we dancers were concerned, was that the audience started laughing and enjoying themselves from the moment Cupid was placed upon the table at the beginning of the piece until all three couples were happily united at the end. Thank you, Anchorage!