San Diego’s ‘Nutcracker’ ballet dancers kept on their toes with with work visa requirements

Artist visas are expensive, restrictive, time intensive and stressful.

But they have proved to be a life-changing pathway to opportunity and freedom of expression for some of San Diego’s most skilled and unique ballet dancers.

There are many types of non-immigrant artist visas and visa categories and each has specific conditions.

Ballet companies that hire foreign dancers often utilize an O-1 visa, a temporary government permit for those who possess “extraordinary ability” or the P-1 visa, a shorter-term authorization intended for artists who perform with an internationally or nationally recognized group.

Why do performance companies hire dancers from outside the United States you ask?

It has to do with the goal of creating a blend of artists who are familiar with classical repertoire and who are compatible and talented on many levels.

It’s a complicated and ongoing process.

Dancers can get injured or leave a company.

When the board of a professional ballet organization and its artistic directors prepare a budget and plan a season of performances, all the elements must come together. If a necessary dancer is missing, the search is on.

Many young foreign ballet artists first come to the U. S. on student visas that allow them to attend intensives, or specialty classes in which they are evaluated over a period of weeks.

Across many borders, artistic directors and teachers compare notes and communicate with each other.

Over the years, City Ballet of San Diego and San Diego Ballet have accepted foreign dancers who have had a range of visa authorizations, from students to skilled professionals. Some of them are now in rehearsals with the two companies for “Nutcracker” productions opening in San Diego later this month. Here are their stories.

City Ballet of San Diego

“The ballet world is small,” said Jo Anne Emery, the managing director for City Ballet of San Diego. “Everybody knows everybody.”

Emery is responsible for preparing petitions and supporting evidence for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). Principal dancers Iago Breschi from Brazil and Japanese dancer Sumire Ito, for instance, came to the U. S. on student visas.

They both eventually qualified for O-1 visas for artists of extraordinary ability.

Breschi and Ito joined City Ballet in 2017.

“The first time you get a dancer on an O-1 visa, it’s good for three years,” Emery explained.

“After that, you have to renew every year. It’s an inch thick of paperwork. You have to show documentation, like programs, awards, newspaper articles or letters of recommendation from teachers and directors who can attest to the dancer’s skills. You also have to show your history of consistent programming.”

The process to obtain visas is costly and typically, the ballet company pays the fees for dancers who are eager and qualified to dance principal ballet roles, such as Giselle or the Cavalier in “The Nutcracker.”

Timing is a consideration, too. If the right dancer is found, that artist must be in the U. S. in time for rehearsals.

“You are looking at over $3,000 to expedite an O-1 visa,” Emery said.

“Otherwise, it can take months. It has taken years to build our company up to its current high standards. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

After Breschi trained and performed at other U.S. ballet companies, City Ballet helped him to qualify for an O-1 visa, which requires proof of extraordinary ability.

“From the very beginning, we saw that he was a talented young man,” Emery asserted.

“There are a lot of male dancers, who do not have the charisma he has. At City Ballet, he had opportunities to dance lead roles in Balanchine and “Nutcracker” productions. There were reviews about him and letters of recommendation from repetiteurs from the Balanchine Trust. As part of the petition, Stephen Wistrich, our director, wrote letters stating that he would be an asset to the company.”

Ito also proved to be an asset to City Ballet. She began her career at Atlantic City Ballet in New Jersey, where she performed as a soloist and was awarded an O-1 visa. An injury caused her to leave that company and return to Japan. After she recovered, she sent an audition tape to City Ballet and was hired.

“It was perfect timing,” Emery said. “We were looking for a dancer to partner with our principal male dancer, Lucas Ataide. She was performing principal roles and highly recommended by one of our dancers who knew her. She is graceful, yet strong, the epitome of a ballerina.”

SUMIRE ITO — JAPAN

Ito was born and raised in Hamamatsu, Japan. A scholarship brought her to the U.S. when she was 19 years old, where she trained at Washington Ballet School.

“That was huge for my life,” Ito said with a soft voice.

“I grew up in completely Japanese culture. I never really expect to be a professional ballet dancer when I was younger and training in Japan. But I had a really great chance to come here. I thought, I want to try. I want to see outside my country. I had a culture shock because it was so different. I think it is so nice to see international dancers and learn from different cultures.”

There were many challenges to living in a different country, and Ito quickly learned that, to survive, she had to become more than a proficient dancer.

“When I was training at Washington Ballet School, I was rehearsing for “The Nutcracker” and I was supposed to be a guest dancer,” Ito recalled.

“During rehearsal, the director told me something, but I couldn’t understand what he meant. He was like, ‘You don’t understand English, do you?’ My name on the cast list went from A to C cast, only because my English skills was not there. I get it but I was so sad that happened. I definitely knew since that day, I need to work on my English skill, too, not only ballet.”

City Ballet dancer Iago Breschi of Brazil at the company's studio in Pacific Beach.

IAGO BRESCHI — BRAZIL

Breschi was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro and earned a scholarship to Miami City Ballet when he was still a teenager. He trained there for three years before moving on to Atlanta Ballet in Georgia. It was a tough life at first.

“I was here by myself without my family and I didn’t speak English,” he said. “I struggled with money. It was hard to believe I could do it when everyone can say ‘no’ to you.”

City Ballet said yes to him and getting an O-1 visa validated his efforts.

“The reason we get the O-1 visa is because the United States wants us here,” he explained. “We are not here to take someone’s job. It is our dream to dance in the United States and it is because they want us here, otherwise, we would never be here.”

Breschi said he started dancing as a child and that it was “part of his soul.” He didn’t dare to dream it could be a profession until later in life.

One of the advantages of working as a ballet dancer in the U.S., he said, is freedom of expression.

As a child, Breschi was discouraged from pursuing a dance career, but that made him all the more determined to succeed.

“I was not allowed to take ballet class when I was a kid,” Breschi said. “In Brazil, the boys play soccer, the girls take ballet. I have value here and people see me as a professional dancer, which makes me really happy. I can be myself, completely myself, in my personal life as a gay dancer.”

Part of obtaining an O-1 visa involves an interview at the U.S. embassy with a consular official and for Breschi, who has a long list of documented accomplishments, the process has been fairly easy.

“I never had a problem with immigration,” Breschi said.

“But one time, the guy said, ‘Oh, you are a ballet dancer. Can you do a ballet step here?’ I’m like — sure. I did a port de bras (English translation: carriage of the arms).”

“He laughed,” Breschi added with a confident smile, “but in a good way.”

City Ballet of San Diego’s ‘Nutcracker’

When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 21; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 22-23

Where: California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido

Tickets: $29-$99

Online: cityballet.org

San Diego Ballet

In addition to its traditional classical productions, San Diego Ballet collaborates with theater and music organizations. Led by artistic director Javier Velasco, the company is known for presenting ballets that incorporate Latin, jazz, and blues themes.

San Diego Ballet makes it a point to hire Mexican dancers such as Jonas Olivera and Elizabeth Tapia Molina, who have joined the company through P-1 visas.

“The P-1 or O-1 visa is based on the skill and experience of the dancers we are looking to hire,” explained San Diego Ballet’s executive director Matt Carney.

“It’s almost like casting a play. We look for a full range of abilities and looks and different types of dancers. We want to represent a diverse company. It’s important to us to have a Southern California, border-town sensibility that directly includes Mexican culture.”

A frustrating aspect of hiring Mexican dancers is that Mexico is a nearby country rich with talent that remains difficult to interact with due to the expense and requirements of visas.

“We have shared commerce with Tijuana,” Carney reasoned.

Matt Carney is executive director of San Diego Ballet.

“Yet if someone commutes over the border every day, we still can’t hire them without a visa. We choose to pay for that expense because we want our neighbors to be included.”

In the visa process, both the artist and the hiring organization are subjected to government scrutiny.

“We have to show that the company can support the artist and the artist is reputable enough to come to the U.S.,” Carney said.

“We have to make sure, for example, that seventy percent of our company has been with us for two or more years and that we have a national relevance.”

The P-1 visa, Carney said, is good for talented dancers who have excellent training, but do not yet have the resume for an O-1 visa. But it serves as a reputable foundation and can provide a pathway to getting the O-1 visa.

“The P-1 visa is for one year and it’s renewable, so dancers must go through the process every year,” he said.

“But while they are here, dancers have an opportunity to be a lead in one of our productions, or showcased in the media or in one of our promotions. That would position the dancer to apply for an O-1 visa.”

Carney said that it takes time to assess whether a dancer will be the right fit for the company.

“When we look for dancers, the entry point is often through our summer program,” Carney said.

“It’s a two or three-week opportunity to see if a dancer has the personality, technical and aesthetic qualities we are looking for.”

Carney said San Diego Ballet appreciates the commitment that Olivera and Molina bring to the company.

“Jonas has a dynamism and rhythmic acuity that breathes life into Javier Velasco’s signature works,” Carney said.

“And Elizabeth played the Queen role in our recent production of “Sleeping Beauty.” She brings a beauty and regalness to the stage that is captivating.”

San Diego Ballet dancer Elizabeth Tapia Molina, who is from Mexico.

ELIZABETH TAPIA MOLINA — MEXICO

Molina started dancing as a child and in 2018, she won first place in the highest female category of the Intramuros Contest at Monterrey Higher School of Music and Dance in Mexico.

“I let myself be vulnerable,” she confessed.

“Every time I was on stage, I felt that I got to connect with the audience. I was showing who I was and they received that and were moved. To me, that made me feel more human.”

Molina wanted to dance in the U.S. because of its opportunities.

“Here, many states have two ballet companies,” she said.

“For me, that is mind-blowing. There is so much art here and it made me interested to come here. I love my culture but I also love American culture and the people here.”

Molina started training with a tourist visa at a dance school in Chicago but she noticed during auditions that they separated the paperwork of dancers who did not have artist visas into a rejection pile.

A local principal dancer who was a former schoolmate introduced her to San Diego Ballet and she was hired.

“This is my second season,” Molina said. “I put my trust in San Diego Ballet and I got the P-1 visa.

I live in Tijuana and I cross the border every day. At first, I would ride the trolley and the bus. It would take two hours to come here and two hours to go back. Four hours a day, six days a week.”

Molina said the training in the U.S. is much different. As a professional dancer, she is expected to make choices about her performance.

“In Mexico, I always had a teacher telling me, ‘This is wrong, this is right.’ Here, I have to be critical and honest with myself about the movement. It is hard for me but I am on my own.”

JONAS OLIVERA — MEXICO

Olivera started dancing as a child and throughout high school, he immersed himself in sports. Dance in Mexico, he said, was “more for girls.” When he started dancing, it changed his life.

“I threw away my scholarship to college,” Olivera said.

“I was going to be a civil engineer. I tried a summer intensive in Mexico and it was a huge challenge. After that, I was very persistent. I want to be the best. I want to be at peace with myself and express with my body what I feel. I’m an emotional guy and I feel very deep and intense. I want to portray that for the audience.”

Olivera’s primary family lives in Mexico, but he stays with relatives in North County.

“It’s been very stressful and hard because where I am from is in the center of Mexico,” Olivera explained. “It’s not just across the border, I have to fly there.”

Olivera said he was aware that there were work visas, but he didn’t know how many types of artistic visas there are.

“It was not until I got here that San Diego Ballet told me about it, it’s a journey I learned with them,” he said.

“With a P-1 visa, we can only work for one year. I try to stay in shape, go to gym. I stay with family in North County and try not to spend money. Everyone said dance does not pay enough and it will be hard. It’s fine. Now, I realize it is rough, tough and all of that. That’s OK.”