Eugene Ballet’s ‘Cinderella’ is powered by two real-life love stories

Cinderella and Prince Charming fall in love while dancing, twirling across the floor amid an extravagant ball. But their time is cut short as midnight strikes. She flees the dance floor, and he is left holding only a glass slipper. 

In Eugene Ballet’s “Cinderella” — which opens Friday, Feb. 20 — Prince Charming and Cinderella fall in love through dance on multiple levels. Two different sets of principal dancers perform as the central pair in different performances, and both are in real-life relationships.

Married couple Sarah Kosterman and Joshua Downard fell in love during pandemic-era ballet practice, while engaged pair Koki Yamaguchi and Koatsu Yashima were both being hired for the Eugene Ballet from the same prestigious New York ballet academy.

“It’s a joy to watch him on stage,” Yashima said of seeing her fiancé perform.

Koki Yamaguchi and Koatsu Yashima

Yamaguchi and Yashima were classmates turned friends at the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet in New York when both were hired to come to Eugene. 

Chemistry between the two, who were not paired together in class, was not immediate. Yamaguchi said that while spending time exploring New York with her and other Japanese students in their academy, he thought she was just easy to be around.

“I felt no stress or pressure,” said Yamaguchi, who started to develop feelings for her. For Yashima, it took longer. 

“I was not so interested,” Yashima said. 

Toni Pimble, the longtime artistic director of the Eugene Ballet, hired both classmates after the same open audition, and the two Japanese dancers decided to live in the same apartment building ahead of their 2017 cross-country move. He was 22 years old, and she was 19.

From there, and the close proximity of being dancers in the same ballet company, a relationship was natural.

In Eugene, the couple — now engaged — frequently dance together as a pair. That includes the Eugene Ballet’s production of “Cinderella” in 2021, where they also danced as Prince Charming and Cinderella. 

Yashima said Yamaguchi makes for a good partner for her because they are similar heights (Yashima is 5-foot-1 while Yamaguchi is 5-foot-5), and she admires his ability to jump extremely high during a performance.

Yamaguchi said Yashima’s strengths as a ballerina lie in her artistry, both in embodying a character in a role and what he described as her relaxing-to-watch style, with no sharp edges in her performance.

“She’s really good at being the character, but showing a really smooth quality of movement,” he said.

Before each dance together, they say the same thing: “Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.” The Japanese phrase translates roughly to “treat me well” or “I’m counting on you,” but takes on another meaning between the two of them.

“It’s like, ‘please dance with me,’” Yamaguchi said.

Sarah Kosterman and Joshua Downard

It was eye contact during a pas de deux, a dance duet and a building block of ballet choreography, that made Kosterman realize she had feelings for Downard. 

Downard, 26, and Kosterman, 31, are both originally from Sacramento, California, but they didn’t piece that together until both were back home in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Downard reached out to ask if Kosterman would want to take a ballet class with him while they waited to return to Eugene, and she said yes.

They started practicing pas de deux, including the one from “La fille mal gardée,” when Kosterman realized something had changed.

“It’s not even a very romantic pas de deux at all,” she said. “There’s just this moment where you’re running around and then you come together and hold hands and look at each other’s eyes. Something about that, just like locking eyes and being close, gave me butterflies.”

Gradually, through class and outings unrelated to dance, that connection built for Downard as well, and the two started dating.

“There was a lot of nervousness around starting to date, because it was like, ‘This is a small workplace,’” Downard said.

They married in 2023, and frequently talk shop with each other at home — but there are times, they said, when they need to actively stop talking about ballet to enjoy life as a couple. Kosterman caught Downard absent-mindedly doing a hand flourish while on a hike; she asked him what he was thinking about.

“He’s like, ‘I’m thinking about my “Nutcracker” variation,’” she recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Stop it.’”

Working together comes easily because of their mutual communication and trust. Kosterman said she’s more picky and open with Downard than with other dance partners, and he said that he’s more willing to really dive into dissecting a part of the performance with her.  

“Cinderella” is the first full-length ballet where the two play leading roles opposite each other. 

Downard said his favorite moment in the ballet comes at the end, the final pas de deux, where the two are dancing alone on stage in simple costumes, with no grandiose set design, just a starry night backdrop behind them.

“That’s their happily-ever-after moment,” he said. “It’s supposed to represent them looking at their future. I think that’s very special for me, as we are together and we are married and we are happily ever after right now.”

How to see Eugene Ballet’s ‘Cinderella’

There will be three performances:

• Friday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Feb. 21, at 2 p.m.
• Sunday, Feb. 22, at 2 p.m.

All performances are at the Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center in Eugene. Tickets are available online, and start at $30.