In this independent film "The Ballerina," I played a fragile character named Jesse Chiles. Jesse grew up in a small town in Arizona, and left for New York where she studied relentlessly to become a prima ballerina with the ABT. In the dance world, her name was associated with the greats. Unfortunately, her love of dance drove her to complete madness. She was so obsessed with the art, she could only eat, sleep, and think about dance. One night, before a big performance, she went up on the roof of her building, tied on her pointe shoes and began a flawless execution of classical choreographic compositions to the music of Mozart which endlessly played in her head. As her passion swelled, she spun into a frenzy of Pirouette's until she tried flying through the air in a grand jete. Her death was tragic, but the frantic music in her head was finally silenced.

This photo was taken after the performace of "Swan Lake." My last! I still dance, but not on pointe and not professionally.

This is one of the rare photos from the film, "The Ballerina." It was captured on stage during the height of my performance. This film was also the finale of my dance career. I wrote my first book a few months later. The pointe shoes I'm wearing are in a trunk at my mother's house as homage to that era. To dance is to be completely devoted to the art, and I wanted to do other things.