32 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM The lessons Jasmine learned on the ice carried over to ballet in unexpected ways. “It helped with my fearlessness in difficult dance steps. Because, with skating, you just have to go for it. If you’re going to do a jump and rotation, you can’t second-guess yourself. You can’t half do it.” That same instinct to commit served her well when dance partners tossed her into the air. Skating also helped Jasmine calibrate her spins. “I didn’t get dizzy in the way I think I would’ve if I wasn’t used to it,” she says. That said, her muscle memory didn’t always work in her favor. In ballet, when you spin, “you have to pick a spot, and then whip your head around really fast and come back to it—and that’s how you don’t get dizzy,” she describes. “With skating, your PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: LINDSAY THOMAS - SAN FRANCISCO BALLET go-on moments came during Jasmine’s Madrid tour for Swan Lake, where she danced the dual roles of sweet Odette (the White Swan) and deceptive Odile (the Black Swan). On the day of the final performance, Jasmine woke up sick. Burning fever, shivering chills, waves of nausea—the works. “I just felt horrible,” she recalls. After struggling through a morning rehearsal, Jasmine crawled back into bed, attempting to sleep off the bug before that evening’s show. With parents and friends flying in to watch her perform, she was determined to take the stage. And so she did, uncomplainingly suffering through the first and second acts. With only the final act to go, Jasmine rallied the last of her strength. “That was the Black {punchline} spins are so fast. If you did that, you’d break your neck.” After getting scolded more than once for not spotting her pirouettes, she finally kicked the habit. Jasmine quickly rose through the ranks at San Francisco Ballet, joining the corps de ballet at 17, moving to a soloist role at 19 and finally reaching the lofty position of principal dancer at 22. But the journey hasn’t been all roses and standing ovations. It’s blisters and sprains too. It’s putting intense pressure on the tips of your toes to dance en pointe. “There’s always something hurting,” Jasmine says matter-offactly, shrugging it off. One of those show-must-
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