Annie Garcia has learned many ballet moves since she began dancing at age 3, but there’s one in particular that will always be the Camas High School senior’s favorite.
And it’s a move people can watch her perform on Thanksgiving weekend at the Portland Ballet.
“I’ve always been a jumper,” said Garcia, 17. “I love grand allegro — the big jumps across the floor. It feels like flying to me.”
Garcia will fly across the floor periodically during her four roles in “The Portland Ballet Dances A Fairytale Holiday,” where she will dance as characters in John Clifford’s “Tales From Mother Goose” and “The Enchanted Toyshop.”
And Garcia will be joined by three other young Clark County dancers in the shows, which will be performed to live music from the Portland State University Symphony.
Kayla Adams, 16, and Cassidy Swanson, 11, students at the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, and Lauren Grover, 11, a sixth-grader at Shahala Middle School, will join Garcia on the stage.
While Garcia said she’s excited about her two lead roles, as Princess in the “Princess and Pagodas” segment of “Mother Goose” and Giselle in “Toyshop,” the performance she relates to most is a smaller role as the Shopkeeper’s Wife in “Toyshop.”
“I think there’s a lot of depth in that role,” Garcia said. “She and the shopkeeper, they aren’t all that successful. Their life isn’t all rosy. I think it would be easy to do it simply, but there’s so much depth to it that I really enjoy.”
Garcia grew up dancing in Vancouver at DanceWorks Performing Arts Center and the Evergreen Dance Academy before heading to the Portland Ballet, a larger youth company in Oregon.
“I started as a little girl, and I just kind of stuck with it,” Garcia said. “My mother danced in high school, and I think I got some of my love of it from her. It lets me express who I am.”
While the director gives dancers the general steps and guides the overall performance, the young performers also get a chance to bring a lot of themselves into the role, Garcia said.
“We’re given the steps, but generally we can take them and do what we think is best with them, unless the director says he doesn’t like it,” Garcia said. “And I really just enjoy performing, connecting with an audience.”
Garcia said she would like to become a professional dancer after she graduates. She plans to go to a community or online college while she pursues that dream, she said.
“I hope to audition for the Oregon Ballet Theater,” Garcia said of her plans.
Performances for “A Fairytale Holiday” are 1 and 5 p.m. Nov. 28, 29 and 30 at Portland State University, Lincoln Hall, 1620 S.W. Park Ave. at Market Street in Portland. Tickets are $5 for the show at 1 p.m. Nov. 28. Subsequent shows are $15 for youth, $35 for adults and $90 for a family pack. Visit pdx.edu/boxoffice/tickets or call 503-725-3307 for information.
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