International Day of Friendship

We’re celebrating the International Day of Friendship with two Ballet Tucson dancers that share a strong bond both on and off the stage: Demi Soloist Sarah Wilkerson and Soloist Casey Johnson. They’re here to share how dance has brought them together and has deepened their friendship.

Friendships in ballet are incredibly special. It is such a unique and challenging art form that can sometimes be very isolating. When you find someone you connect with both onstage and off, that bond is unbreakable. There is nothing better than looking across the stage and seeing your best friend. It really gives you a sense of peace and excitement as well.

This past season we were able to dance the lead couple in Kiyon Ross’ “No Holds Barre’d”. His work is vibrant and intricate, with a lot of personality. It has a very challenging fast-paced pas de deux and requires a certain fearlessness to approach many of the steps. Because we are such good friends, we understand each other’s bodies as if they were our own. This makes partnering together so much fun. We can each focus on what we need to do and know that the other always has our back.

 In addition to our stage friendship, we have a strong bond that goes past the studio. Casey is a master gardener and shares his knowledge and passion for plants with Sarah, although she is in the infancy stage of gardening. We also enjoy game nights and watching RuPaul’s Drag Race.

However, it is our passion for dance that is the base of our friendship. We see each other at our highest and lowest points. There have been so many times where one of us is having a bad day and the other comes over and saves it, just by making the other laugh and reminding us that at least we are doing what we love. Being onstage is a very vulnerable place to be and knowing you’re doing it with someone that you are so close to creates a unique type of intimacy that only dancers share. We have a running joke that we like to beat each other up, as there have been many times while rehearsing a pas de deux that we have accidentally hit one another. But we always get right back up and just laugh it off. It’s rare that people can do that so easily. We both trust one another so completely that we can dance fearlessly and really pour ourselves into the roles we perform.

Dancing together feels like home. This is a friendship that will last a lifetime.

Written by Sarah Wilkerson and Casey Johnson

Photos by Ed Flores and Silas Chu