Slideshow

Slide Show: Alison Roper, Dancing Queen

March 12, 2014

Alison Roper in George Balanchine's "Serenade," 2004.

Alison Roper, age 10 (left); preparing for a performance at age 12 (right)

I have a joyous style of dance. I just love moving so much. I couldn’t stop dancing even when I wasn’t dancing. When I was a youngster I would crash around the kitchen trying pirouettes and jumps and driving my family crazy.

Alison Roper in George Balanchine's "Agon," 1999.

Over and over, people would say, “How do you have such amazing classical ballet technique? I thought OBT was a contemporary company?” We took really serious ballet class every day (we still do). I like rules and order. So ballet works really well for me.

Alison Roper in Trey McIntyre's "White Noise," 1998.

This is one of my favorite all time photos. It’s from a ballet by Trey McIntyre that he created while he was Resident Choreographer at OBT. The ballet, “White Noise,” has never been done again, primarily because there wasn't a good quality video and no o

Alison Roper in James Canfield's "The Nutcracker" in the late '90s (left); as the Sugarplum Fairy in George Balanchine's "The Nutcracker," 2006 (right).

Alison Roper and OBT founding artistic director James Canfield on the cover of the Oregonian's A&E section, 2000.

When I talk to young dancers I say it’s a special thing to find your place, to find a director who is interested in you, and helping you improve. If you find that, stay … because it may not happen again. There were very good dancers came through during O

Alison Roper with Paul Destrooper and Damian Drake in James Kudelka's "Almost Mozart,” 2006.

Some people think of ballet as very old-fashioned. But many pieces are very real and very edgy. "Almost Mozart," which is done almost primarily in silence, got my sports friends into ballet: “It was amazing,” they said. “We could hear you breathing, we c

Photography by Blaine Truitt Covert

Alison Roper with partner Artur Sultanov in Christopher Stowell's "Swan Lake," 2006.

I get really fascinated with the work it takes to partner together; what partners bring out in each other. Dancing with Artur frees something up in me…maybe because we’ve danced together a zillion times. It’s like, if something isn’t going to work we alm

Alison Roper with Artur Sultanov in Nicolo Fonte's "Bolero," 2010.

I loved the process of making "Bolero" with Nicolo Fonte. He stays in a classical vocabulary but he twists it and tweaks it.

Alison Roper with Chauncey Parsons in George Balanchine's "Apollo," 2012.

Photography by Blaine Truitt Covert

Alison Roper with Artur Sultanov in Christopher Wheeldon's "Rush," 2008.

My big struggle is nerves before shows. Sometimes I can conquer it, and sometimes it gets the better than me. The first time I danced at the Kennedy Center in DC there was this extra level of intensity, like, “I gotta not suck.” I came to the first pirou

Photography by Angela Sterling

Alison Roper with Paul Destrooper in Jerome Robbins' "The Concert," 2006.

Photography by Blaine Truitt Covert

Alison Roper with Adrian Fry in Trey McIntyre's "Like A Samba," 2010.

What dance fits me best? "Like a Samba" allows me to live in a lot of different parts of my personality. In the opening and finale it’s like you are with friends, sharing a great joke or going out dancing. Then there’s a pas de deux that’s a little forbi

Photography by Blaine Truitt Covert

Alison Roper as Odile in Christopher Stowell's "Swan Lake," 2009.

Dancing until you're 40 and having two children is a little abnormal. I danced the lead in Swan Lake when I was five and a half months pregnant. It was hard but I made it through the fouette turns. [Former artistic director] Christopher Stowell was wonde

Photography by James McGrew

Alison Roper at Yale Union, February 2014

Roper will dance a pas de deux from choreographer Nacho Duato among other farewell works in Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Celebrate program, Apr 17–26 at the Newmark Theatre. obt.org

Photography by Andy Batt

Fairy queens, black swans, steely modern sirens, and goofball maids—dance chameleon Alison Roper has transformed herself into all of them during her nearly two decades at Oregon Ballet Theatre. The ballerina looks back at her career and some of her favorite roles.

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Slide Show: Alison Roper, Dancing Queen

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