Dane LaFontsee’s dancing career spanned four decades. It included the positions of principal dancer, ballet master and, finally, artistic director of the Milwaukee Ballet from 1990 to 1995. So how did he get into llama farming? |
Back in 2000, Dane and his wife, Dana, attended a fundraiser and won a weekend at a llama farm in a silent auction. “It wasn’t being bid on, so I put down $50,” says Dane. “I was just going to give the money without going.”
But they did go, and happened to see a baby being born. Dana even got to help bottle-feed the tiny llama. The couple fell in llama love. “We ended up buying the baby,” Dane says.
For the next three years, Dane and Dana would regularly visit the llama, named Leila, at her home, a Cedarburg farm. “We always said, ‘Someday we will have property and have more llamas.’ ”
After 9/11, they felt an urge to change their lives. They began shopping for a farm. In 2003, they sold their home and bought a farm in Waterford. They now have six llamas.
“Llamas are unique in their personalities,” Dane says. “Their intuition and calmness can be astounding. They are often used as therapy animals.”
After Dane’s best friend died, he found his animals very comforting. “I sat down on a blanket and kept going over in my mind the life I had had with him, and the llamas were lying all around me. This is a calming thing they do. When Dana’s father passed away, she was devastated, and the llamas came running and stayed around her.”
The LaFontsees’ new life doesn’t shun the spotlight entirely.
They belong to the Wisconsin Organization of Lama Enthusiasts and compete in llama shows.
“We have been successful,” Dane says. “So in the llama world, we’re known.” He adds, “My dance career was rewarding, but to lead a rural life after being in the public eye so long is unbelievably fulfilling.”
