Gavin Larsen, a former principal dancer with Oregon Ballet Theatre, lives in Asheville, NC, where she teaches and writes about dance. After training at the School of American Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet School, she danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Alberta Ballet, and the Suzanne Farrell Ballet before joining OBT. In addition to regular contributions to Pointe, Dance Spirit, and Dance Teacher, her writing has been featured in Dance/USA’s journal In the Green Room, Oregon ArtsWatch, Artslandia, and literary journals the Threepenny Review, Page&Spine, and Kyso Flash. Her memoir, Being a Ballerina: The Power and Perfection of a Dancing Life, was published by the University Press of Florida in 2021.