Amanda Peet: Sacramento Ballet's electric ingenue.

When Amanda Peer floats into view perched atop a sliver of moon, more than lunar luminescence lights tip the stage. As the Princess of the Moon in Kathryn Posin's Scheherazade, she is clearly not of this world. Her arms undulate with shimmering fluidity, and sweetness softens her regal bearing. Descending to earth, she dances a liquid pas de deux, alternately whipping through turns and floating down from lifts. In an endless arabesque, her winged foot arcs toward the heavens.

"Amanda is a dazzling young creature--she has an electric, live-wire quality," says Posin. "She's a born stylist. She picked tip on the idea of the moon being a woman and created beautiful, moonlike shapes."

Earlier in the evening, the dark-haired beauty danced a corps role in Balanchine's Concerto Barocco, with a sharp attack that led into melting movements. Gifted with long limbs and prehensile feet, she seems born to dance the master's repertoire. Rehearsals for fellow dancer Stefan Calka's Bagatelles reveal that she's equally suited to even more contemporary ballet. She devours the steps, and her long, defined muscles lend the movement a sculptural quality.

Sacramento Ballet co-artistic director Ron Cunningham spotted the teenaged Peer at a regional ballet festival. During her first job at Utah Regional Ballet when she was 17, he kept an eye on her. "Amanda was a knockout, a standout, both with her beauty and all the right facility for a ballet dancer. In addition to that, an aura almost glowed around her. She has a powerful presence that connects with the audience."

Cunningham offered her an apprenticeship in 2002, and two years later the young dancer had three major roles created on her by Trey McIntyre and Cunningham. Peet calls McIntyre's Illuminations "one of the best experiences of my life. There was a lot of physical partnering, a lot of relationship involvement. I had to learn to acknowledge my partner, not just do it for myself. It works so much better because you have all that energy together instead of being selfish about it. You can see the difference when two partners are in sync with each other."

Cunningham considers Peet physically suited to contemporary works but claims she has equal potential for dramatic roles. He set his Dracula on her and encouraged her to spread her wings as the Firebird. Peet loves it all. "I'm sort of an actress anyway," she laughs. "It's fun to find different things in myself and improve, not just technically but dramatically and spiritually. It grounds me as a dancer." After four years in this small company with a broad repertoire, Peet is often the first choice of visiting choreographers.

Inevitably, with those plum roles came resentment from more senior dancers who felt usurped. "It's gotten better," Peet says. "Once you've been in the company for a while, people respect you more." The discomfort was worth it. "I enjoy getting good roles and the chance to improve instead of hanging out in the corps," she says. "The choreographers expect a lot from me, as I do."

An only child raised by her mother and grandmother, the 23-year-old Peet--not to be confused with the actress of the same name, whose fan mail she sometimes gets--grew up in Walnut Creek and San Francisco. She started taking ballet when she was 7, struggling with keeping her focus at first, but then falling in love with the discipline. After training at Contra Costa Ballet in Walnut Creek, she and her family moved to San Francisco, where Peet attended School of the Arts and trained at City Ballet under Damara Bennett. She also took intensives in Paris for four summers, courtesy of her doting grandma.

What drives this elegant creature with the surprisingly boisterous laugh is her deep love of dance. Her huge brown eyes shine when she describes how performing gives her a rush. "I love that feeling of abandon onstage." Her new hobby, surfing, gives her the same feeling. "It's so fun, and it takes a lot of strength, so I'm getting a workout, too," she says.

Quietly confident, Peer seems poised for more. "I love being here because of the intimacy and the exposure of doing these amazing roles," she says. "But I would like to go to a bigger company someday, to be with principals I've never seen before, and travel the world if possible." If her potential matches her enthusiasm, the world awaits her.

Cheryl Ossola is a freelance editor with Dance Magazine and a dance writer based in San Francisco.