CMU School of Drama


Sunday, September 04, 2011

From barre to bar: Dancers Julia Erickson and Aaron Ingley create snack

PostGazette: While principal dancer Julia Erickson was rehearsing the dual role of Odette/Odile for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's spring 2010 production of "Swan Lake," she wound up uncovering a third role for herself -- food bar entrepreneur.
"In rehearsing for this, I needed some quick energy," said Ms. Erickson, 32, a Seattle native who has performed with PBT for 10 seasons.

2 comments:

abotnick said...

I always get excited when a product comes out for dancers by dancers. So many products are made by people that don't actually participate in the activity or market they are trying to sell too. Dancers know what dancers need so shouldn't they be coming out with the snack food and leotards that they eat and wear. I'm a dancer and I know that the leotards and dance clothes I most enjoy wearing were designed by actual dancers or people that used to dance. I've never heard of the snack bar but I'm really interested in it now and I think I might purchase some and try them out at my next rehearsal. They sound cute and yummy!

Liz Willett said...

I was lucky enough to have worked with Julia and the rest of the PBT company last year, as well as this past summer. Dancers, ballerinas specifically, are characterized with having eating disorders to keep their weight down. I observed quite the opposite. Many of the performers eat consistently through the day, but rather in small meals such as bananas, yogurt, or granola bars. It is always fresh, and usually specific for that dancer. I think Julia's creation of Barre is a wonderful help for not only her daily meal consumption, but also that of other dancers. There is now a product tailored for the work that they perform. This product may take off in the dance world, but I think Julia will find that other high-performance athletes will pick up on the boost that it gives them.