Seattle's hardest working dancers you've never heard of
![caption: Pacific Northwest Ballet's corps de ballet dancers in George Balanchine's 'Nutcracker.'](https://kuow-prod.imgix.net/store/0c6d1e4bba4df5626a923602a44c395c.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&fit=fill&crop=faces&auto=format&fill=blur&w=924&h=634)
Rock stars have back up bands.
Most Broadway musicals have a chorus.
The ballet version of these supporting artists is the corps de ballet; "corps" is French for body.
The corps dancers appear in the big story ballets like "Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake." They create the context for the dramatic action, or the mood of a particular scene.
Dancers in the corps de ballet have to match each other perfectly; the irony is, to get a coveted promotion out of the corps, they need to stand out from the very dancers they need to blend in with.
KUOW's Arts and Culture reporter paid a visit to Pacific Northwest Ballet to learn more about these hard working, and often unsung, dancers.
Correction 9/22/2016: A previous version of the audio incorrectly stated dancer Emma Love Suddarth's age. She is currently 27 years old.