This is Alec Baldwin, and you're listening to Here's the Thing from IHeart Radio.

My guest today is a former principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater,

who performed iconic roles such as Swan Lakes Odette and O'Dill at age 19.

She has danced around the world and performed the repertoire of iconic choreographers such

as George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, and Merce Cunningham.

Since retiring from the stage, Susan Jaffe has served as Dean for the School of Dance at the

North Carolina School of the Arts

and as artistic director for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.

She recently returned to American Ballet Theatre as artistic director in 2022.

Jaffe has coached generations of dancers.

Luckily for her, the desire for young girls to become ballerinas

has not changed over time. Years ago, I owned a ballet school, and I said, the most wonderful

thing about owning a ballet school is everybody keeps having babies. And so those babies turn

into five and seven-year-olds, and half of them are women, and they want to come to the ballet school.

So it's a great business.

It was, I don't own it anymore, but it was a great business.

But I wonder what is it about?

Because for me, people say, why do you go to the ballet, or why do you go to the symphony and so forth?

I said to see people do things I can't do.

It's like sports.

Yeah.

I mean, I watch those people do that, and my mouth is on the floor, you know, those dancers.

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