A Day in the Life of a Professional Division Student: Operating Puppets in The Sleeping Beauty
PNB’s world-premiere production of The Sleeping Beauty is a reimagining of the classic tale. The performance is full of innovative and exciting elements, like Preston Singletary’s Indigenous Northwest Coast-influenced set designs, Paul Tazewell’s stunning costumes, and puppets designed by Basil Twist! The Sleeping Beauty is PNB’s largest production ever, and PNB School’s Professional Division students (PDs) are operating many of these puppets. We interviewed Cassidy Morris, one of these PDs, about her daily routine while prepping for The Sleeping Beauty – puppets and all!
Cassidy is from Vancouver, WA, and started dancing in elementary school. After dancing at Ballet Chicago for a year when she was 16, Cassidy returned to the PNW to be with family and danced at Portland Ballet. As a Washingtonian, PNB had always been on her radar, and so she applied to and joined PNB’s PD program. The PD Program is designed to help students transition from student to professional dancer by perfecting technique and developing artistry. While dancing at PNB, Cassidy is also pursuing her Bachelor of Social Sciences at the University of Washington.

Morning
Cassidy starts her day around 7:15, and “the first thing I do is have coffee!” Then, she’ll get ready, do her hair, pick out her outfit, and head to the studio. She’ll get there half an hour before her first 8:30am technique class to warm up her body. Currently, in technique class, Cassidy is focusing on developing her artistry. She explains, “I’m allowing myself to have more grace, exploration, and artistry. Technique and artistry can be a double-edged sword, but they have to work hand in hand. That makes dancing more fun too!”

Afternoon
Cassidy’s schedule can vary widely after her morning technique class. Right now, as she’s rehearsing The Sleeping Beauty, she often goes straight into a rehearsal. “My schedule is different every single day; it’s dependent on the roles that I’m learning and the rehearsal schedule.” Cassidy is rehearsing the roles of Nymph, Countess, and, of course, Mice Puppeteer. The Mice Puppeteers are “a cloud of rats and dust that enter with Carabosse.”

The process of developing the puppet material began with The Sleeping Beauty stagers Doug Fullington and Peter Boal. “We began playing around in the studio, imagining what different patterns could look like, what different steps could look like, how would rats move, and setting a base idea.” Later, Basil Twist and fabricator Erik Andor (of Andor Studios) joined the rehearsal process with puppet prototypes. “Then, we really started playing around and setting what we had with what he had imagined. The process was testing things out a lot, talking to the dancers, seeing what feels good, seeing what looks good too because the puppets read differently from the audience.”

Cassidy is controlling multiple puppets, all at the same time! “There is a puppet on my head, two puppets on my hands, and a puppet wheel.” Cassidy’s training in ballet allows her to use her “body to convey an emotion, an experience, or make the audience feel something. Now I’m having to think about that, but not that I’m doing it. Instead, these different things on my body are doing that. I’m coordinating them having these little lives going on at the same time.” The mice are a mischievous bunch; “There’s a lot of room for play, which is so, so fun.”
Evening
After a long day of rehearsals, Cassidy heads home. “My hours spent at the studio, I’m really dedicated to dance… So that when I leave, I can be a student again, and when I’m done with that, I can tend to my body.” If she’s free to relax, Cassidy will spend time with friends, cook, and be outside, breathing fresh air. “It’s really important to me to have moments doing nothing. Being stagnant for a moment, calm for a moment, really keeps me grounded.”


Even though she never expected to be one, Cassidy loves being a Mouse Puppeteer. “It’s fun, hilarious, imaginative, and so creative. It’s interesting for me to be exposed to another character of the performing arts and how it ties into The Sleeping Beauty – this old and new and colorful and exciting production that we’re cranking out right now.”
You can see Cassidy, the other Mouse Puppeteers, and an ogre puppet at PNB’s world-premiere production of The Sleeping Beauty,
which runs January 31 – February 9. Click here to purchase tickets!
Bio: Born and raised in Vancouver, Washington, Cassidy Morris began their early training at Columbia Dance before continuing at Ballet Chicago, The Portland Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Alongside their dedication to ballet, Cassidy graduated high school with an associate degree and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s in Social Sciences at the University of Washington.
Cassidy has attended summer intensives, including Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Ballet Chicago, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, and the International Dance Masterclass in Prague. They are now a Professional Division student at Pacific Northwest Ballet, preparing to launch their professional career.