 My name is Michael Greer, executive director here at Portland Ballet. We'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to some of our dancers and give you an inside look into some of the people that make up Portland Ballet. Welcome. Can you introduce yourself and tell us how long have you been here at Portland Ballet? My name is Erica Diesel and this will be my fifth season with Portland Ballet. Wow. What brought you to Portland Ballet? Well, I grew up in Massachusetts and a family friend had seen Portland Ballet perform and they knew that I was looking for a new home. They recommended that I audition up Portland Ballet. They thought that it would be a good fit both the company and the city. That's why I came to audition. Wonderful. And five years later, what do you think the, what's your favorite thing about the city of Portland itself? So I love the access to the beach in Maine, only in the summer of course, but I love that I can go to the beach on my lunch break and catch some rays. Wonderful. Thanks, Erica. Thank you. Welcome. Can you introduce yourself and tell us how long you've been here at Portland Ballet? My name is Kelsey Harrison. I'm originally from Syracuse, New York and this is my fifth season with Portland Ballet. Excellent. Excellent. So five seasons, what brought you here to Portland Ballet? When I came to audition, I found everyone to be very down to earth. I found that laughter could be a part of the process. Again, I'd been missing that. And I found that they treated you as a person first and a dancer second, which I think is very crucial. Excellent. Those are great things. And after five years, what is your favorite thing about the city of Portland itself? Living by the ocean. Yeah, I lose hours of my life on the rocks at spring point, just watching the tide come in. Something so healing about that. Wonderful. Thank you, Kelsey. Thank you. Welcome. Can you introduce yourself and tell us how long you've been here at Portland Ballet? My name is Megan McCoy-Siedner. I've been with Portland for five years now, right out of college. I came here because I knew Debs Grammatic, who was dancing here. And she introduced me to the company. And I thought it was a wonderful working environment. And they hired me out of college. Excellent. And so I guess that's what brought you to Portland Ballet. What brought you to the city of Portland itself? Once coming here, I had never been to Portland. So once traveling up here from Portsmouth, I got to see how wonderful the city is and how full of history, which I love. I love the old port especially because it's so rich. And Ballet is rich in history too, which is why I love the both. Wonderful. And other than that, what's your favorite thing about the city of Portland? My favorite thing about the city of Portland would have to be the old port. I love that it's on the water. I love the boats, just the sound of all the sounds, the smells, everything. It's just, it reminds me of home. Wonderful. Thanks, Megan. Thank you. Welcome. Can you introduce yourself and tell us how long you've been here at Portland Ballet? So I'm Jane Howard and I've been at Portland Ballet. This is my first season in the company. However, I danced in the core for five years. And that was about three years ago. So I haven't been in Portland for three years, but I'm back. Wonderful. Wonderful. And what brought you to Portland Ballet? Or what brought you back to Portland? Well, I really like the idea of dancing with a smaller company. I think that you get more opportunities just because it's, there are less dancers. I also was really attracted to the rep this year. I think it's going to be really fun and I'm looking forward to that. Excellent. And now you've been here for a long time, but what can you say is your, your favorite thing about the city of Portland itself? I think just the way people express themselves in Portland, everybody's an individual. And I also really love being on the ocean. I'm always drawn back to the ocean. It just makes me feel better all around. Wonderful. Thanks, Jane.