I fell in love with ballet at the age of 7. This love has led me on a winding path, through a forest of beautiful choreographers and crushing disappointments, and, above all, a unique and rarified communion with my animal body. It’s the sort of thing that people notice in the street, on the subway; in line at the coffee shop, they ask me if I’m a dancer. I say yes. It is who I am.
It makes sense that we dancers are conspicuous. We are a different species.
Hence, we don’t always fit into this world.
However, through the creation of Ballet Burlesque, a personal invention that combines my love of being en pointe with the time-honored form of burlesque—often removing garments not just for show (although that certainly is delightful), but as a metaphor for transformation. I have a BA in contemporary ballet, choreography, and production design.
In 2019, I started the Ballet Burlesque Project on Patreon. I recruited a dedicated team to capture me on film and get it to you on these metal boxes we all have. My dearest wish is that these small films will pull you—if only briefly—out of your place and time, into my rarified air up here where my toes are clouds and the floor is home and the only limitation is my proficiency in explication of deepest soul.
Join me. Engage with this voyage, departing shortly, via hot air balloon, and allow your entire self and your entire animal body to react, freed from the weight of the terrestrial, where we all must dwell at least some of the time.
Moving Portfolio
Past choreographed works, caught on film.
My attempt to process through art the horrors that transpired in Italy—my ancestral homeland—during the pandemic and the incredible heroism displayed there.
Residency final performance at Earthdance, Plainsville, Massachusetts, December 2019.
"The Fox"--In which we observe the misadventures and eventual escape to freedom of a mystical half-fox, half-woman; and "The Bridge to Saint Nizier"--In which a sex worker contends with a vastly new landscape in her chosen profession, discarding garments with which build a bridge to the promised land.
One of my favorites from the 40+ videos I made from my bedroom while in quarantine. Like almost all of them, this was 100% improvised. See the rest of the “Ernestine Under Quarantine’ project on Patreon.
An improvisation from my residency at Earthdance in Plainfield, Massachusetts,, May-December 2019.