Ballet dancer brings Jays fans to their toes with first pitch
Instead of spikes, she wore ballet shoes with a skirt and leggings to match. But don't let Heather Ogden's attire fool you — this ballerina came packing some heat.
The principal dancer at the National Ballet of Canada threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Jays game against the Oakland A's on Tuesday night, telling CBC Toronto that if it were up to her, she would have incorporated a few ballet moves into her pitch.
"I was going to do a little high kick and a turn, but they said just keep it straight forward, they didn't want me injuring one of the players or something," she said.
Back to the ball field
Ogden said that being on the baseball field isn't outside of her comfort zone — she grew up playing softball, but had to give it up to focus on ballet.
"It was a big decision for me when I had to decide to give it up, and I think I made the right choice," she said.
While ballet and baseball may seem worlds apart to most, Ogden says there are some similarities. She used Blue Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who also happens to be one of her favourite players, to make her point.
Ogden pointed out that Tulowitzki is often very graceful playing in the infield, scooping up the ball on the run and then turning in midair to throw to first.
"I think he makes it look easy, which can be deceptive for people who think, 'oh I could do that, I can make that throw,' and you probably couldn't." Ogden said.
Where ballet and baseball meet
It's a comparison that may seem odd to some, but not to Tulowitzki.
"Yeah, you can see some similarities there, you know, working on your toes a lot," he said.
Jays infielder Darwin Barney agreed, having taken a ballet class in college.
"Stuff like that helps, anytime you can be more aware of what your feet are doing, that'll only help us in the middle infield for sure," he said.
It's been years since Ogden has played baseball, but she said it wasn't hard to get back into the groove for her pitch at the Rogers Centre.
"I threw the ball with my cousin in the park this weekend," she said.
All that practice seemed to pay off — Ogden threw a rocket to Jays pitcher Dominic Leone, who was crouched behind the plate.
