Dancer: Alyson Mattoon

Alyson Bryce Mattoon is originally from Sedona, Arizona. Alyson attended the Virginia School of the Arts on scholarship and graduated with honors. Her affiliation with State Street Ballet began in the summer of 2000. While dancing with the company she has created the roles of White Rabbit in Robert Sund's Alice in Wonderland, and Bianca in Sund's Taming of the Shrew. Alyson has danced soloist roles in Giselle, William Soleau's Seasons, Sonnets, Five by Gershwin, Sund's Beauty and the Beast, B.A.N.D, the role of Arabian in Rodney Gustafson's Nutcracker and the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella.

Alyson also has a passion for teaching, and teaches jazz and ballet dance classes at Gustafson Dance, the official school of State Street Ballet.

Favorite ballet or role: Victoria Simon's Salute To Sinatra. The only performance of mine I've ever been completely happy with? It has to be a performance of Ballroom SSB did in Los Angeles a few years ago.

(Note: SSB will be performing Ballroom this coming season, and the picture of Alyson and Chad Bantner below is from William Soleau's Five By Gershwin, part of the Ballroom program.)

Favorite food: Ice cream, cookies ... I have such a sweet tooth!

Favorite step: Anything that stretches me: Piqué arabesque, écarté, any kind of épaulement.

Hobbies: Cross-training, like spinning, weight training, and hip-hop classes. I also love sharing good food and wine with my friends.

Guilty pleasure: Indulging my sweet tooth.

Anything else you'd like to say? Ballet is really hard, and requires a lot of discipline and practice. The ease that you see on stage is the result of a really tough, daily physical routine --- it takes a lot of hard work, but the end result is always worth it. I'd encourage everyone (women and men) who's curious about dance to come visit the studio and take a class or two, just to see what it's like to be on the other side of the curtain. It's a lot of fun, and we always welcome new beginners.