People keep asking me about how it feels to retire, and I think it's going to be an ongoing process of reflecting and remembering all those moments that sort of stand out in retrospect.

I'm really excited to start a new chapter.

I absolutely love being a dancer and the career that I've had.

I'm so grateful for every single moment of it.

But during the pandemic, I realized I am going to be okay.

I'm going to be okay not dancing every day.

So I was going to retire with Titania from "The Dream."

When I got back, I did actually feel much better than I expected.

So these past few years have been really kind of a bonus.

I'm very aware that this is a special moment, and it's ... my inevitable transition is coming, and that I wanted to do it as gracefully as possible.

When I was looking at the repertoire for the season, I thought "Giselle" or "Woolf Works" or "Sylvia" would be really special, but the one that ultimately speaks to me the most is Odette/Odile.

And it's significant because it was one of the first full-lengths that I danced as a young soloist, and I've danced it so much over the years, and each time I find something new to each of those characters.

And also to be filmed early on as a principal for PBS and to get messages over the years, even, you know, this past week, messages or notes from people saying how meaningful that film was to them, it's just made it even more special just over the years.

Each time I do it, I feel something slightly different to the point where Susan is like, what are you?

What are you doing there?

And I was like, I don't know, just like, it just, I really kind of go with the flow and just feel that music.

Certainly in the past few years, coming back to it after having a child and feeling that unconditional love, I feel like I'm bringing that to these stories now, too.

This is my dream company.

I was absolutely starstruck when I came up for the audition - seeing Susan Jaffe, seeing Amanda McKerrow, a very young Paloma Herrera, and all these dancers.

I said to Kevin McKenzie, as much as I would love to join in two days, I really do need to graduate from high school.

He was like, why don't you join in August?

So during August 1996, a couple days after I joined, we were on tour in Rio de Janeiro, and I was just like pinching myself.

Like, it's just been, a whirlwind, almost 29 years with such an incredible company, so many tours, so many rehearsals, performances, so many great memories.

So many roles helped develop me as a, as a person and as an artist, but one that stands out is Hagar in "Pillar of Fire."

And another one is Lizzie Borden in "Fall River Legend," because both those roles required me to go, like way outside my comfort zone in terms of the feelings that they are experiencing, are so intense and not necessarily like pretty.

Like really letting go of any self-consciousness and absolutely embodying those character's feelings and experiences.

And then I'd say Juliet and Giselle were two other roles that also pushed me artistically to understand that even without any turns or jumps or anything, but just standing there and having internal dialog or feeling something, and how you can convey that with the tiniest of gestures or just with the intensity of what you're actually experiencing as a person, can come out to an entire opera house.

I feel like the dance world has changed a lot in the past almost 30 years, and I feel like we're still in a moment of like, great evolution in terms of dancers feel their voice can be heard and that they need to speak up for themselves and advocate for themselves.

I think that's changed a lot.

It's not, you know, dancers should be seen and not heard - not the vibes at all anymore.

And I think that's going to be incredible to watch the next generation.

One piece of advice I would give to my younger self is remind your older self to really just embrace the moment and seize the opportunity to dance, and not to not to get into any expectations or anything other than just being in that moment and enjoying every second.

I'm not exactly sure what's next, but I have been coaching and teaching and staging a lot because I'm very passionate about it, and I feel like I've been given so much by my mentors and my partners and colleagues, and I want to pass that on.