Let me tell you. It doesn't take much to make a dancer look great, but under that muscular and graceful exterior lies a women's locker room floor filled with pink point shoes, discarded water bottles, underwear and empty shoping bags. I recently had the treat of photographing Joffrey Ballet star, Britta Lazenga at the Joffrey studio for Chicago Magazine (April 2007) and there I discovered the truth. Dancers are really sloppy! There are some 20 female dancers at the Joffrey and each has a messy, little pile on the locker room floor of their belongings. What's most interesting is that like penguin parents to their chicks, each dancer can identify nearly identical piles as their own. Further, they know which other pile belongs to whom. It's safe to say that I did a little organizing for this picture, and in the end, was requested to pile it all back in the proper mound. Thanks to Krista Gobeli for hair and make-up.Photo editor: Todd Urban
