- Sometimes people think of ballet as just fairies and tutus.

And yes, there are fairies and there are tutus, but there is a huge array of repertoire that is very innovative.

Very bold.

Athletic.

Gritty.

I am Susan Jaffe, and I am the artistic director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater.

(classical music plays) (upbeat music begins) We are here to offer a huge array of what dance is.

I think Pittsburgh Ballet Theater has always done that, since even Petrov, and then to Patricia Wilde, and then to Terrence S. Orr.

The first thing that I am here at this organization is the co-leader with the executive director.

So we are overseeing all the areas of the organization, and the finances.

Fundraising and the school.

Additionally, I oversee the dancers and the repetitors.

Making sure that people are here and working in beautiful ways.

Secondly, I am the artistic.

I came from an artistic background.

Obviously I have the expertise.

The vision that the artistic director puts on an organization, is the face of the organization.

The flavor of the organization.

(classical music plays) When I was about seven years old, my mother asked me if I wanted to go to dance class.

There was a local YMCA right across the street.

And so she put me in a modern dance class.

And we were there rolling around on the floor, being a dog basking the sun, or melting like an ice cream cone.

I, at that age, I had some very lofty aspirations.

I was either going to be a famous actress, I was gonna be a famous singer, or I was gonna be a princess.

And the prince was gonna come galloping through my backyard and whisk me away to the palace.

And so there I was rolling around on the floor and I thought to myself, is this what a princess does?

I don't think so.

I saw the ballet class across the hallway.

And they were so pretty, and their hair was pulled up, and they had little criss-cross ribbons.

I said to my mother, that's what I wanna do.

A month or so later, I actually had a prophetic dream that I was a star.

After that, you couldn't stop me.

I was going to be a ballerina.

When I was 10 years old, I announced to my mother that I was going to start drinking coffee because I heard that coffee stunted your growth.

My mother was five eight, and my father was six foot.

I was going to dance with Baryshnikov, so I needed to stunt my growth.

So that was my announcement at 10 years old, I started drinking coffee.

And I ended up being five foot four and did dance with Baryshnikov.

I just really knew what I wanted to do.

(classical music continues) Took me 10 years to feel like I could walk in my shoes.

Because I became kind of a star overnight, but I didn't feel ready to be that.

(classical music continues) I'm an anomaly still as a woman leader.

And I wanted to celebrate the creativity and the innovation that these amazing women have brought to the ballet world and to the dance world.

- It's powerful, it's soft.

And it's dynamic.

- I want Pittsburgh to be able to see this work.

I do think that it will branch out to a much wider kind of audience.

That it's not just necessarily the Nutcracker.

It's not just for the family.

This is an intellectual art form.

This is a deeply innovative art form.

And it's a wow factor art form.

(upbeat dance music plays) - I think it's a very intimate work for them.

Beauty gives consolation and gives hope that we are living in a beautiful world.

(playful classical music begins) - This Swan Lake is my piece of choreography.

Second act is the sacred cow.

You don't touch the second act.

That is where the swan meets the prince by the lake.

The general steps of that have been passed down all the way from when it was created.

Opening instead of like a presenting.

Right.

And then when you do this... Everything else, if you are the choreographer, then you get to choreograph it and you get to stage it however you want.

That last needs to be so, what's the word, surprising.

So you're turning turning, and that head goes down.

Da, da, da, da, da, oh!

I love classical ballet because of the exacting way you have to approach it, and then tell a story, and then be alive, and then give emotion.

So for me, that is sort of the top level of what any dancer can achieve as far as the level of physical and exacting excellence.

I hope everybody comes to see it.

It's one of the great classics.

I can't wait to see it too.

This is a really hard profession.

It's serious work.

Oh, just a minute.

I'll be right back.

I loved being a dancer.

And I love being an artistic director.

I also love nurturing young people.

I love empowering others.

Better.

Hannah, that's dear diary right there.

I just think that's a cool job to have.

It just really is.

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