HOLIDAY FAVORITE. The Nutcracker, one of the most famous of ballets and a yearly tradition for many families, is being performed by the Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT) at Portland’s Keller Auditorium through December 27. OBT’s production includes three dancers of Japanese heritage: Yuka Iino, Ansa Deguchi (pictured), and Mia Leimkuhler. (Photo/ Blaine Truitt Covert, courtesy of the Oregon Ballet Theatre)

From The Asian Reporter, V19, #49 (December 15, 2009), page 10.

By Julie Stegeman

Nothing evokes the feeling of the holiday season quite as well as watching a performance of The Nutcracker, one of the most famous of ballets and a yearly tradition for many families. The Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT) is performing the classic work through December 27 at Portland’s Keller Auditorium, offering the only west coast production that features George Balanchine’s 1954 choreography.

OBT’s production includes performances by three dancers of Asian heritage: Yuka Iino and Ansa Deguchi, both from Japan, and Mia Leimkuhler, an American of Japanese ancestry. All three women joined OBT in 2003.

Yuka Iino grew up in a small prefecture near Tokyo. She began dancing at the age of four or five because her mom liked ballet. "I was dancing in the living room while music was playing on the TV, and I guess my mom put me in the ballet class," she said. In kindergarten, Yuka decided, "I want to be a ballerina and dance around the world."

Although the people of Japan enjoy and support ballet, "it was very hard to be a dancer because the companies are not as developed as here. They don’t have ways of making a lot of money." Dancers in her company in Japan were required to buy their own expensive point shoes and "a lot of us had a part-time job besides dancing; it’s very hard to focus."

Yuka journeyed to the U.S. and tried out for various ballets. She was offered a position with OBT while taking classes at the Pacific Northwest Ballet and she became one of OBT’s principal dancers in 2007.

One of the most difficult aspects of coming to the U.S. was the language barrier. "I barely spoke English," Yuka said. "It was harder to work on the new pieces ... It was definitely harder to talk to your partner. We have to communicate." She has since learned to speak the language quite well through her work at OBT and being around friends, although she feels it may still slow her down a bit.

Ansa Deguchi joined OBT as an apprentice, was promoted into the company the following season, and has been a soloist since 2007. She grew up in Nagoya, Japan. "I’m a city girl," she says. She began taking ballet classes at the age of five, but it wasn’t until her second season with OBT that she fully committed herself to a career as a dancer.

"When I was an apprentice I just worked really hard. I didn’t have any days off. It was really a tough season for me. I got a job, that was really lucky ... but I didn’t have any confidence," she said.

A call from Yuka, who she looked up to as a professional principal dancer, helped her figure out that dancing was what she really wanted to do with her life. "I decided to push myself a little bit more and also try to enjoy my life a little bit more. That’s why I’m here right now."

Watching a poised and talented Ansa confidently dancing the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in rehearsal shows how far she has come since that time and her commitment to her art.

Mia Leimkuhler grew up in southern California and began studying ballet, in her words, "pretty late," at the age of eight or nine. "I liked the physical aspect of ballet and how athletic it was," she says.

After moving to the Bay area, Mia had many opportunities to watch the San Francisco Ballet perform while Christopher Stowell, OBT’s artistic director, was dancing as a principal dancer there. He came to choreograph at her school a few years before she auditioned for OBT.

"I was very, very fortunate to establish that connection with him," she says.

The three women each have several different roles in The Nutcracker, and the part they play changes with each show. This allows the dancers to try several roles and keeps the dancing interesting for both dancer and audience. Mia laughingly refers to one show where the three lead the flowers’ dance as "the Japanese flower garden."

The graceful dancing of Yuka, Ansa, and Mia can be seen at OBT’s presentation of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at the Keller Auditorium, located at S.W. Third Avenue and S.W. Clay Street in Portland, through December 27. For performance dates and times, or to buy tickets, call (503) 2-BALLET (222-5538) or visit <www.obt.org>.