Click here to read ArtsATL's feature on Atlanta Ballet company dancer Alessa Rogers, "Maker’s Dozen: For Atlanta Ballet’s Alessa Rogers, the life blood is all in the steps" with writer Scott Freeman. Learn about Alessa's untraditional journey to becoming an Atlanta Ballet artist, the challenges she overcame along the way, and her breakthrough roles with the Company.

"As The Princess and the Goblin was performed, officials from the Les Ballets de Monte Carlo were in Atlanta to begin the process of bringing Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette here. They were smitten by Rogers’ performance in Tharp’s production. 'Alessa was the obvious choice as Juliette,' Giovanna Lorenzoni, one of the two stagers sent to Atlanta, told ArtsATL. But no one ever mentioned that to Rogers; all she knew was that she was getting substantial attention from Lorenzoni and the other stager, Asier Uriagereka. 'I had a sense they were looking at me when we did a couple of audition workshops,' says Rogers. 'When they came back, they were calling me by my name, not ‘Oh, you!’ A dancer always knows when people are watching.'"

Atlanta Ballet dancer Alessa Rogers with stager Giovanna Lorenzoni. Photo by Charlie McCullers.