Excited to bring Juliet to life

Rehearsing for Milwaukee Ballet's "Romeo & Juliet" has been a lot of hard work and a ton of fun.

Because I've been splitting my time between Milwaukee and my job at the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago, the time that I can rehearse Juliet is usually very concentrated and intense. I have spent most of the days working with my Romeo, Douglas, and the dancers involved in the family scenes, Lord and Lady Capulet, the nurse and Paris. But this week, we've been putting all the scenes of the ballet together, so I've been able to see a lot more of the rest of the company. They are a joy to work with and a joy to watch.

For myself, I'm starting to get really excited to perform the role of Juliet again. Between the two productions I've danced before, I've performed the role a total of about 15 times. I find it is always an amazing experience and wonderfully different every performance. Especially in production like Michael Pink's which allows me, as a dancer, a lot of freedom in my reactions to what's happening on stage. All of Michael's works are like that and I've danced in a few of them! We first did his "Dracula" in Atlanta Ballet in 1998. He cast me in the role of Lucy. Since then, I've danced Lucy three times, Esmeralda in his "Hunchback of Notre Dame" and of course, Juliet.

I love all the roles, but Juliet is probably my favorite since I was involved in the creation of it. And for my real life Romeo ... he is my husband, Scott Kepley. We met when I first joined the Atlanta Ballet. He was a production assistant there. He came walking through the studio and I just had to know who he was and if he already had a girlfriend! I lucked out and we've been together ever since. He's currently the lighting director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and we've been married almost 11 years.