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Boston Ballet Dancers Prepare For Challenging New Performance

BOSTON (CBS) - In the build-up to opening night, dancers with Boston Ballet have been testing themselves for weeks.

The season opens on Thursday, October 22 with "Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler: A Ballet by John Neumeier."

It is an extraordinarily physical performance. The lead male dancers are onstage for all but five minutes of the one hour, 45-minute performance.

There is no intermission.

Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen compares the demanding nature of the performance to climbing Mt. Everest.

"They are emotionally and physically exhausted...The dancers will be different human beings after they dance this ballet."

To prepare for the challenge, dancers have been adding workouts—exercising before, between and even after rehearsal.

Principal dancer Lasha Khozashvili is now swimming laps every day—no matter how tired he is.

He'll be the first to admit, "This is really super athletic!"

Principal dancer Paulo Arrais is adding strength training and stretching to avoid injury.

"It's very easy for you, when you are tired, to start using the wrong muscles and it's very easy for you to get injured that way."

Avoiding injury is key.

Which is why Boston Ballet physical therapist Heather Southwick is also working especially hard. Her massage table is rarely empty as she works the lactic acid from the dancers' muscles and tends to aches and pains that cannot be ignored.

"They're probably running this ballet two, three, four times a day. And that would be like the Patriots playing four Super Bowls in a row."

Some of the dancers joked that they are also particularly conscious of what they eat. The men are shirtless during the performance.

WBZ's Lisa Hughes asked Nissinen, "When it's over, do you take them all out for pizza?" Nissinen laughed, "Sushi is more like it."

Boston Ballet becomes only the fourth company in the world to perform "Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler" and the first in North America.

For information and tickets, www.bostonballet.org

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