It was thrilling to finally see our incredible company artists return to the stage last fall, but after spending over a year confined to dancing in their living rooms, kitchens, and the like, the road to performing again wasn’t easy. Dancer Madeleine Kuebler joined Ballet Tucson in September of 2021. She quickly began to wow audiences with her technical skill and inspiring artistry as a leading dancer in works including George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco and Who Cares?, and Chieko Imada’s Ballet the Calla-way. Madeleine shares about her journey back to the stage and her passion for dance in this latest Ballet Tucson Blog post.
My name is Madeleine Kuebler, and I am a company dancer with Ballet Tucson. When COVID hit, all of us dancers were forced to take many months away from the studio and stage, and coming back this season posed interesting challenges that none of us had ever seen or experienced before. Honestly, coming back to company life was hard to adjust to. It was difficult to find my footing at first: long rehearsals in pointe shoes again, dancing in a larger space than I had been used to at home, as well as learning lengthy sections of choreography for the first time in a while. These were all things that were no longer second nature to me as a dancer and I had to work extra hard on getting these now rusty skills back up to par. However, these were challenges that we were all facing coming out of our lockdowns. The wonderful and uplifting camaraderie among the dancers and everyone involved with Ballet Tucson really helped us remember why we’re doing all of this and made it so easy to remember how much we truly love what we do.
In spite of all the challenges and difficulties presented to us, this season was also filled with incredible moments. For me personally, it was a year where I was able to perform many new roles, such as the Columbine Doll in The Nutcracker, which was so much fun to portray. I was also lucky enough to perform several works by George Balanchine, which had always been a dream of mine- I always wanted to experience that kind of beautiful, liberated and seemingly carefree dancing onstage. With all of this I was able to learn so much, and it really grew the fire inside of me that is my love for dance. Overall, this season with Ballet Tucson was an amazing example of what can happen when everyone has the same goal and puts their heads and hearts together to make it happen. I’m so proud to say that I am a part of this incredible company.
Written by Madeleine Kuebler
