In the late 90s, Erik Sanborn Johnson seemed to have it all. A father of three in his 20s, he’d made a nice life for himself, raising his kids fulltime and flipping real estate for a tidy profit.
But in 1998, his then-5-year-old daughter, Anna, accompanied him to his first ballet (a production of The Nutcracker), and Erik realized something was missing. “I cried. I thought, ‘This is the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my whole life;’ the music, the set, the costumes, the characters,” he says.
That was a Sunday. The next day, Erik attended his very first ballet class. That Tuesday, he received a call from Bonnie Matthis, co-founder and director of Ballet Arts Minnesota, asking him to appear in an upcoming production. On Wednesday, he found himself in a private lesson with Bonnie herself, a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. By Thursday, he was attending rehearsals for Graduation Ball, the first of many performances he would eventually be involved in.
Today, he’s the founder and artistic director of Metropolitan Ballet and Metropolitan Ballet Academy. He’s come a long way for a guy who, just 10 years ago “thought the barre was something for old people to hold onto.”
From Studio to Sanctuary
In June 2000, Anna (then age 8), died in a boating accident. Erik sought solace in ballet. By that October, he was in the studio every day. “Being in ballet is peaceful, like being in a church. The ballet studio became my sanctuary, where I found my new normal,” he says.
“He had two choices: basically, to fall into the abyss and die himself or live,” says Louise Woehrle, family friend and filmmaker. “Ballet came into his life and it moved him.”
Though he was fueled by sadness, Erik also relished the opportunity to finally get in touch with his artistic side. Growing up as one of six kids in a traditional Maple Grove family, Erik says he was encouraged by his parents to participate in “manly” sports and dissuaded from discovering dance and music, even though he has always been drawn to the performing arts.
With a renewed passion, Erik formed the Metropolitan Ballet in 2002. Two years later, he collaborated with ballerina Mifa Ko to put on a production of Romeo and Juliet at the O’Shaugnessy Theater, accompanied by the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony. He was expecting to sell 400 tickets; to his surprise, the show sold out at nearly 2,000.
In 2006, Erik opened the Metropolitan Ballet Academy in Maple Grove, tapping Bolshoi Prima Ballerina Tatiana Berenova to serve as director and main instructor. (The school moved to a Minnetonka location in 2008.)
Metropolitan Ballet has continued to produce at least one show every year. Erik fills virtually every behind-the-scenes role, from costume designer to lighting manager to occasional choreographer to publicity director. “He kills himself for these shows.” Louise says. “The problem is that he’s so good at it.”
Metropolitan Ballet is currently ramping up for its December production of The Nutcracker, a show that particularly affects Erik, as it was the first ballet he ever saw—and he saw it with his daughter. “I’m sure I’ll cry this year,” he says. “I cry every year.”
A Paradigm Shift
Metropolitan Ballet does not have major funding; most years, Erik does not take a salary for his work. To pay his bills, he gives private dance lessons and teaches piano. He is worlds away from his posh former life in real estate, but Erik says he’s never felt more like himself than when he’s working his magic behind the scenes of a ballet.
“When my daughter was killed, everything changed,” he says. “Before, it was all about making money. But she caused a paradigm shift for me. Everything I thought I was supposed to become, supposed to stand for, supposed to do to please my parents—all that just fell away when she died.”
“I wish it didn’t take burying a daughter,” he adds. “But I am what I am. I lost her, but I found myself.”
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The Metropolitan Ballet will perform The Nutcracker at 1& 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, at the Hopkins High School auditorium, 2400 Lindberg Drive, Minnetonka. Tickets are $15 to $29, parking is free. For more information, visit metroballet.org.
