Christine Rocas on Her Path from Joffrey Ballet Dancer to Rehearsal Director — and Why the Company Is ‘on the Right Side of History’
Have you ever wondered what happens to a ballet dancer after they take their final bow on the stage? In Christine Rocas’ case, fate intervened, and she ended up exactly where she was always meant to be. After almost 20 years dancing for the Joffrey Ballet, a Make It Better Foundation grant partner, she is now at the front of the room as their newest and only female rehearsal director.
Dancing Into a New Role
Rocas began her career at Ballet Manila in the Philippines, training in the Vaganova style under the tutelage of prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, and was already performing many lead roles before coming stateside.
Macuja-Elizalde believed in exposing her dancers to many opportunities and encouraged them to enter the competition circuit. Rocas found herself at the 2005 New York International Ballet Competition. It was there she met Joffrey Ballet co-assistant artistic directors Adam Sklute and Cameron Basden, who offered her the Arpino Award named after Joffrey’s co-founder, Gerald Arpino.
The award was a one-year contract with the company, which meant moving to Chicago.
“It was a very conflicting time because I was very happy at Ballet Manila,” said Rocas on a rehearsal break last week. “But it was a great opportunity, and I thought it would be dumb not to take it. It’s just a year. If I don’t like it, I can always come back home. The rest is history — I’m still here.”
Rocas recalls moving to Chicago as a massive adjustment and having culture shock at first, not just living in a new country, but also within the ballet company. Rocas says she lived a sheltered life in the Philippines and had only studied classical ballet. The Joffrey’s repertoire has always been eclectic, incorporating more modern and contemporary choreographers like William Forsythe and Laura Dean. At 19, that adjustment can be intimidating, but she found the challenge inspiring.
Defining Moments on the Joffrey Stage
Reflecting on her career at Joffrey, Rocas finds it difficult to choose favorites, but with a little prompting, the memories and appreciation came flooding out.
“When I look back, I don’t think I realized the magnitude of the opportunities that were given to me,” she said. “I tackled them to the best of my ability, and I think I took care of all of them. It wasn’t until much later in my career when I could truly appreciate the things I got to do.”
Some standout roles (for her and Chicago audiences) include Juliet in Krzyzstof Pastor’s Romeo & Juliet, Anna in Yuri Possokov’s Anna Karenina, and RAkU, the lead role in Giselle, and the original Arabian variation in Christopher Wheeldon’s 2016 The Nutcracker.
Known for her intelligent approach, musicality, and impressive acting chops, Rocas learned and expanded her talents with each role she danced. As Juliet, paired with her dear friend, former Joffrey dancer Rory Hohenstein, she embodied the glow and heartbreak of first love.
“That ballet was in a language that was very unique, and it was really liberating. I still remember just looking at Rory’s face, looking into his eyes, and there was just that purity. It’s so romantic that you can just get lost and swept up in all of it.”
She credits the generosity of her fellow Joffrey artists for allowing her the freedom to feed off their energy and character conversations on stage to truly embody her roles.
Another role she embodied was Bertha in Cathy Marston’s Jane Eyre.
”That was the role that challenged me the most as a character, and that’s when I went full method acting,” said Rocas. “It was also the hardest shell of inhibition to crack. That character has always been isolated, so there wasn’t context to receive from anyone. I had to give her dimension, so she wasn’t just the crazy lady. By the end of the third act, the madness that I had to get myself to feel in order to bust out unhinged, I had to put myself in a place where I can’t see anymore. I’d get myself riled up to the point that everything is blurry, so that I felt completely uninhibited and wild. The beauty I had to embody was not the beauty I’d always worked for, and it was one of the transformations I felt most proud of, the most significant one.”
A Career Reimagined
Rocas’s path after retiring was unclear. She had lined up some teaching at the Grainger Academy, working with the children’s Nutcracker cast, and she had hopes of shadowing some of Joffrey’s administrative departments to see how an organization works and develop some professional goals.
It was on her last tour of the 2023-2024 season in Sun Valley, Idaho, when she learned the artistic staff wanted to meet.
“I was going to take my time and enjoy being a musician’s wife, going to concerts.” (Rocas is married to violinist Philippe Quint). Instead, she earned the position of interim rehearsal director, which she dove into headfirst, working on the ballet Atonement and setting various repertory works.
Rocas’s first experience working on a new creation as rehearsal director was with Dani Rowe’s Princess and the Pea, which also marked the end of her first season in the new role.
“I could not have had a better experience; I loved it,” she said. “It was stressful because we had limited time, there were a lot of moving parts, and we were racing against the clock. Dani was super organized and knew what she wanted. She was very organized. Her creativity was incredible, and the environment she created with the dancers was fun.”
This season, the interim designation and Rocas was promoted to full-fledged rehearsal director. The position has many duties, including teaching company class, meeting with the artistic team, giving input on casting decisions, running rehearsals, working with numerous choreographers and their teams, coaching individual dancers, and preserving the ballets.
One of the most important aspects is being a clear communicator and effective bridge between the choreographer and the dancer.
“I’m the support system for both the creator and the dancers,” she said. “For a new creation, it’s my job to make sure that whatever is being created is true and it’s going in the direction the choreographer wants. I need to be able to give constructive feedback so that we can always direct the work in a way that is true to the artistic vision. My job is also to preserve that information, so the original material is preserved to the best of our ability.”
Passing the Torch to the Next Generation
As a dancer, Rocas tries to bring her values into her new role, especially when working with the 40+ Joffrey dancers. Her unique perspective as a dancer with Joffrey also helps.
“I knew a lot of these dancers before I became the rehearsal director, so we already have a relationship that helps to bring out their individuality. Most of the repertoire, I have an intimate experience with. It’s a different experience being in the ballet rather than in front of it. It’s quite a special lineage, having danced here and with Ashley (Wheater) having danced here, continuing the Joffrey’s legacy. The Joffrey has always been known to push the boundaries and stay relevant. We’re getting bigger and bolder when it comes to our programming.”
Pushing Ballet Forward
Joffrey’s 2025-2026 season promises great things, including Liam Scarlett’s Carmen, a mixed repertory show honoring ballet icons, including Joffrey founders Arpino and Robert Joffrey, and of course, Wheeldon’s Nutcracker.
Rocas is particularly excited for the world premiere of Eugene Onegin, choreographed by Possokhov, the mastermind behind the award-winning Anna Karenina.
“Audiences need something to escape to, and creating new works, commissioning new music, is part of our responsibility as artists to create the masterpieces of the future. Joffrey’s doing exactly that,” she says. “I think we’re on the right side of history.”
The Joffrey Ballet’s 2025-2026 season kicks off Sept. 18 with Carmen. Explore the lineup for the full 70th anniversary season here.