Step into the world of ballet beyond the spotlight with our exclusive feature! Each edition offers a glimpse into the off-stage lives of your favorite dancers, showcasing their unique hobbies and passions. Discover the surprising and delightful activities that make these artists’ lives as captivating as their performances.
ALEXANDRA LIGHT
Texas Ballet Theater
Principal Dancer
@farbie
Essential item in your dance bag?
My notebook, my planner, my micron pens, my PerfectFit pointe inserts, and my Freeds.
Movie you can re-watch till the end of time?
Inception on the newer side and The Red Shoes on the vintage side.
Dancer who’s inspired you?
The greatests of all time—and also big parts of the Maryland Youth Ballet community and fellow MYB alumna (superstar edition)—Julie Kent and Susan Jaffe. As well as the MYB founder Hortensia Fonseca, and long time principal Michelle Lees. These women taught me how to be both strong and graceful in all the meanings of those words.
Song/artist/playlist you’ve been playing on repeat?
Song: “Forester” by Pearly Drops
Artist: LEYA
Playlists: any ambient soundscapes
Least favorite dance step?
Oooooo, hmmmm, I love to watch incredible grand rond de jambes, but the CAM morphology of my hips has always made it hard for me to execute! A favorite to watch but not my hips’ favorite to do.
How do you like to spend your time outside of dance?
I love nature, hiking with my friends, any encounter with a body of water or animals (especially the ocean and its inhabitants), working on visual art (collage), making art with my friends, and spending time with my husband and our crazy cat Onyx.
Best place to hang out in your company’s home city?
Avoca Coffee, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Fort Worth Nature Center and Reserve.
Dream role?
I loved dancing in Wheeldon’s 3rd pas in DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse, Odette/Odile in Ben Stevenson’s Swan Lake, the Sylvie role in Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, Svetlana in Stevenson’s Dracula, Aurora in Stevenson’s Sleeping Beauty, and getting to originate Tsarevna in Ma Cong’s Firebird. I feel pretty lucky to have had such a dream of a career!
Go-to coffee shop order?
Earl gray or a vanilla latte.
Essential post-show ritual?
Big hug/kiss and hang with my husband.
ABOUT ALEXANDRA
Alexandra F. Light, originally from Washington, D.C., began her training at Maryland Youth Ballet and Houston Ballet II. She has also attended various summer programs, including those offered by the School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, and Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy. Light has performed in many of Ben Stevenson’s ballets, including as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Svetlana in Dracula, Sugar Plum, Snow Queen, and Clara in The Nutcracker, Winter Fairy and Cinderella in Cinderella, Alice in Alice in Wonderland, as well as in his Twilight Pas de Deux, Star Crossed, and Four Last Songs. She has also performed leading roles in in William Forsythe’s In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated; George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Serenade, and Rubies; Jerome Robbins’ The Concert; Glen Tetley’s Voluntaries; Carlos Acosta’s Carmen; Christopher Wheeldon’s DGV©: Danse à Grande Vitesse; Ma Cong’s Firebird; Jonathan Watkins’ Crash; Lew Christensen’s Beauty and the Beast; and Tim O’Keefe’s Violin Concerto in D. Light is also a choreographer, working both with the company and a multitude of outside projects. She has created five works for the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and been selected for choreographic residencies from BONFIRE, Centre Pompador, Jacob’s Pillow, the Frank Lloyd Wright Martin House, and others.
Featured image by Sarah Teveldal
Image 1 by Paul DuBois
Image 4 by Neil Gandhi
Image 6 by Carmen Rose Wilson
