Interview with Adelaide Saucier

Guest Writer: Kelley Saucier, LCCB President

     So let me introduce you to my eldest daughter, Adelaide. I can’t believe that she will be graduating from High School this May! It’s because of her that I am here writing all of these ballet company interviews, spending all of my time at the theatre and talking to Lady Holly 100 times a day. She had just turned three when I enrolled her in ballet class because that was what everyone else was doing. In third grade she quit other activities and said, “This is what I want to do.” It was her choice. I had no intention of being a ballet mom, having never spent any time at the barre myself. Yet here I am, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

     Adelaide has the great fortune to play Lilac Fairy, Queen of all the Fairies in The Sleeping Beauty. I asked Addie what the challenge is in being Lilac. Her answer: “What isn’t the challenge of Lilac? There are super challenging steps throughout the ballet. I have to be a leader and act regal, queenly. It’s fun. I am really enjoying it and it has helped me to improve as a dancer. My partnering skills have improved immensely.” In Act II, Lilac has a long partnering sequence with the Prince, Drew Anderson. Adelaide and Drew have been partners many times and I asked about their relationship. “Lady Holly says he calms me down and I give him confidence. It’s a great relationship. We are like brother and sister, and it translates well in our partnership. We have a lot of trust in each other.”

     Lilac Fairy is one of the leads of the ballet and she is in all four acts, so Addie and I talked about her stamina. “I am going to need about two gallons of water pre-intermission and two gallons post intermission, and I will be sucking oxygen in the wings. In Act I, the Birthday Party Scene, I am on pointe the whole time doing all of these bourres. It seems and appears easy, but it is so tough, and I have to look calm and pretty. There can be no tears. We have established levels of difficulty during Sleeping Beauty. The dancers have developed a code and hand gestures to express those levels as part of our comic relief. It’s ‘Fairy Bonding.’ Those bourres are a HIGH level!”

     Kisler Hathaway Whitworth, assistant rehearsal director, daughter of Lady Leah Lafargue Hathaway, artistic director emeritus, has been an important part of the training process for Sleeping Beauty. Addie says, “Kisler has really helped everyone so much, she has put so much into it, she’s great. She’s super positive. If you’re having trouble with a step, she just looks at you and can tell you how to fix it. I know that there is no way I’d be doing my variations as well as I am without her help. She’s really funny and a ham. She’s performing in the ballet and she’s still got it; she’s a pro.”

     Adelaide is grateful for the opportunity to perform a full length ballet with the Symphony with the amazing costumes and sets, and especially the growth as a dancer. This has translated into some great choices for her future – so where will she go to college? “I am still undecided. I am just excited to have choices. But wherever I am, dance will be a part of my life.”

     I said at the beginning of this piece that I am grateful too. For 15 years it has been my joy to watch Adelaide and Gabrielle enjoy the art and discipline of classical ballet and to participate behind the scenes. I never would have imagined my life as a ballet mom, but I have had the most fun being a part of LCCB. Adelaide made a great choice for herself, and for me. I think she will continue to make great choices in life. Who knows where she will lead me next.

     Adelaide is the 17 year old daughter of Kelley and Luke Saucier of Lake Charles. She is a senior at St. Louis Catholic High School. Adelaide has studied ballet for 15 years, the last 10 with Lady Leah Lafargue School of the Dance and Lake Charles Civic Ballet; in addition she has participated in summer intensive workshops at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Dallas Metropolitan Ballet. Over the years, lead roles in LCCB productions have included The Flirt in Daguerreotype 2007 and 2010, Clemmy in Once Told to Me, Mary and Snow Queen in Rudolph. She also was a part of the 2004 cast of Petrouchka with the Lake Charles Symphony. Adelaide is still deciding where she will attend college next year, but has been accepted to dance programs at Chapman University in Orange, California, Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas where she is an alternate for the Nordan Fine Arts Scholarship, and has received a Loyola Scholar Award to Loyola University in New Orleans.


Profile photo by Cameron Durham / Dance photos by Romero & Romero Photography