Gavin Larsen Retiring at Season's End

[Helene]

According to this story from today's Links, Gavin Larsen is retiring at the end of this season, and her next step is to join the OBT school faculty full-time; she's been teaching there since 2003:

http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/inde..._gavin_lar.html

Q: You've said you thought you'd dance until you fell apart. Clearly you haven't fallen apart, so why are you retiring now?

A: Well, it feels like I'm about to fall apart. That's not really the way I wanted to go. And it's a much wiser course to recognize the signs of falling apart before they became apparent to anyone else. Also, I feel like I've had a very full career, and there's not too much more out of it that I need or want. So I'm really ready mentally and physically to be involved in the ballet world in a different role.

Larsen was wonderful at PNB, one of my favorite young dancers -- it was a real loss when she left Seattle -- and she was lovely in the several roles I saw her in at OBT. I'm sad to see her retiring, but for her wonderful performances and best of luck to her in her next career with the company.