- My name is Teresa Reichlen,
and here, I'm dancing
the pas de deux from "Diamonds"
with Russell Janzen.
This pas de deux starts out
very slowly.
The boy and the girl make
this very slow procession
towards one another.
It's a little bit daunting
to start out a pas de deux
so simply,
by just walking, because it's
hard to make simple walks
look special and regal.
And, as you can see,
I'm wearing
a very elaborate costume
and you have to live up to
all the jewels
that you're wearing,
literally across your chest.
Then we move on
and do these very simple,
but very controlled, lifts.
And it's the first time
we're not facing one another.
At first, we're just looking
at one another
and walking towards each other,
and then all of a sudden,
we're dancing for the audience.
It's almost as if
we're young royalty,
being presented
for the first time.
It's funny, I get more nervous
the simpler the steps are.
You can focus more of your
attention on the little things,
whereas if you have a lot of
complicated things to do,
you've just got
to power through it.
And then comes my favorite
moment of the pas de deux,
this moment of stillness
where you have a chance to just
look into your partner's eyes
before the real
meat and potatoes
of the pas de deux begins.
We actually have our hands
behind our backs.
The first time we did this,
I was a principal
and he was in the corps
de ballet, and I was so nervous
and he was cool as a cucumber,
but he just squeezed my hand
there
and I knew
it was gonna be okay.
He's just such a prince.
It was the first part that
Russell and I danced together
and kind of a beautiful
partnership and friendship
bloomed out of us
learning this ballet together.
I love dancing with him,
ever since that first time.
This part has always been
special to me
because I've been able to watch
so many iconic ballerinas
dance this role,
so it's amazing to be given
the opportunity to do it myself
and to add my own thoughts
to the part,
and I can use things
that inspire me
from each of the ballerinas
that did it before me.
