Dancer: Corina Gill

Corina Gill, a Southern California native, began training in San Diego in 1994, where she studied with Sylvia Palmer, and Ahita Ardalan. In 1999, she joined San Diego Ballet, dancing soloist and principal roles. Corina earned a BA in dance from the University of California, Irvine, where she performed leading roles in ballets such as David Allan's Cinderella. She was also chosen to travel to France to dance at the Conservatoire de Paris. She then joined Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech and also guested for Sacramento Ballet. She danced with Ballet Pacifica from 2003-2005, appearing as a principal in Molly Lynch's The Nutcracker and Robert Sund's Alice in Wonderland. Corina has also participated in the National Choreographic Initiative, dancing in new pieces created by Val Caniparoli and William Soleau. Corina joined State Street Ballet in 2005.

Along with SSB, Corina currently dances with Los Angeles Ballet in their inaugural season.

Corina Gill and Yuan-Ming Chang in Rodney Gustafson's A Midsummer Night's Dream, premiered during State Street Ballet's 2005-2006 season.

Pre-performance ritual:

• 4 ibuprofen and coffee before warmup.
  
• Hair - check.
  
• Makeup - check.
• Choose and lay out pointe shoes for each piece.
• Costume - check.
• Place sweat towels along with water and Red Bull on both sides of the stage.
• Short prayer, and Merde!
  

Favorite ballet or role: Romeo and Juliet, in which I've never performed as Juliet yet, and must do so before I can retire, even if it takes me until I'm 40. The video recording of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet was what inspired me to be a ballet dancer.

Favorite food: Dim sum!

Favorite step: No particular step, but I love partnering best.

Hobby: Scrapbooking.

Current music playlist: Mozart's Requiem

Guilty pleasure: cigarettes ... I know, I know...

Daily support: My husband and God.

Daily mantra: "The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing." - Marcus Aurelius

Corina Gill and Oleg Gorboulev dancing George Balanchine's Agon in Los Angeles Ballet's inaugural season.