Jays and the grand jeté
Principal dancer with National Ballet tosses first pitch at Rogers Centre, resists pirouette at the mound
As one of Canada’s best-known ballerinas stepped into the middle of the Rogers Centre in a red jersey and a tutu, she was more excited than nervous.
Heather Ogden, a principal dancer at the National Ballet of Canada for more than a decade, threw the ceremonial first pitch before the Toronto Blue Jays played the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday.
“I think it contrasted having a ballet dancer in a tutu on the field, so that was probably entertaining. And I got the ball there so I was happy,” Ogden said, speaking to the Star after rehearsal on Wednesday in preparation for Frame by Frame, by director Robert Lepage and Ogden’s husband, dancer and choreographer Guillaume Côté, set to make its debut next summer.
And while Ogden resisted slipping in the pirouette pre-pitch as she’d originally planned, she did throw in a leap alongside Blue Jays mascot Ace.
“I’m a big fan of the Jays and to be able to go out there with ‘National Ballet’ on my jersey, it was just exciting to be out there,” Ogden said. “Everything looks so small from up in the stands, so to be down there with all the players as they sing the anthem, it was special.”
A competitive softball player until her earlier teens, Ogden, 36, stepped up to the task with experience. As a young teenager, she reached a point where she had to choose between dance and softball.
While it was a tough decision to make, she said she’s happy she picked the path she did. Ogden has since gone on to dance principal roles with the National Ballet in
Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, among many others. Ogden sees parallels between baseball and ballet.
Last year she analyzed Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki’s technique for the Star, pointing out that dancers and baseball players have to separate the movements of their upper and lower bodies in similar ways.
Admittedly a bit short on time between family and her training schedule, Ogden said she’d love a chance to play some softball again recreationally.
“Maybe one day,” she said.