The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Chae Eun Yang, Houston Ballet, Houston, TX

Chae Eun Yang is another ballet dancer from Korea who has found success in North America.

The Seoul-born Ms. Yang joined the Houston Ballet in 2013, but she also danced with the National Ballet of Canada for the 2017-18 ballet season before returning to Texas and joining the Houston company once again, as a member of the corps de ballet.  She has played roles in numerous ballets, including The Sleeping Beauty, The Winter's Tale, and, of course, The Nutcracker. 

Well, it's New Year's Eve, so that concludes my seventh series of beautiful dancers. My eighth series will appear in December 2020.  Happy new year - back in January with new subjects! 

The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Erica Villalpando, Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre, Long Beach, CA

Erica Villalpando is a modern dancer with the Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre, and she's also a teacher.

She's taught at colleges and universities all over southern California, including Chapman University and California State University at Long Beach.  Not only has she worked with numerous choreographers, her own choreography has been staged throughout the United States.  

Also, in her time with  Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre, Ms. Villalpando has presented dances such as Faith, Hope &  Love. . . , Polymorphic and Journey of Change.

Fun fact.: In 2003, she helped develop a creative dance program that has served as a state model program in California.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Shoko Tamai

Shoko Tamai doesn't belong to a dance company.  She is a dance company.

 

Originally from Japan, Ms. Tamai began training as a ballerina at an early age and worked her way up to perform with some of the most prestigious companies and schools, including the Central School of Ballet in London, the American Academy of Ballet in New York,m and the Paris Opera.  She's toured throughout the world as well.

Now based in New York., Shoko Tamai is a free agent, performing in her own Shoko Tamai Dance Theatre.  She's expanded her repertoire to include modern and contemporary dance, and she done gigs in experimental theaters dance venues and with numerous collaborators, including the Dance Theatre of Harlem.   She's even worked as - big surprise - a model.

By defying expectations, Shoko Tamai is one dancer who refuses to be pegged.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Courtney Robinson, Philadanco, Philadelphia, PA

Courtney Robinson is a dancer in Philadanco, Philadelphia's premier black contemporary dance troupe.

Her training took her through different schools and programs. including the Ailey School's Fellowship Program, Bates Dance Festival, and she even trained with the Richmond Ballet, as well as with the Codarts Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands.

Ms. Robinson's repertoire includes works from Bella Lewitzky, Pam Tanowitz, and Stephen Petronio,  

The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Madeline Parrish, Parsons Dance, New York, NY

Madeline Parrish is one of the newest additions to Parsons Dance, a renowned contemporary dance company in the Big Apple.

The Tennessee-born Ms. Parrish received her earliest training at the Franklin School of Performing Arts. In 2015, she moved to New York and attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she performed dances by Crystal Pite and Sonya Tayeh, among others.  Graduating from NYU in 2018 - after a stint studying dance in Prague - she joined Parsons Dance almost instantly.

It looks like Madeline Parrish is about to enjoy a meteoric rise in the world of contemporary dance.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Amanda Morgan, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle, WA

When the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle needed an apprentice in 2016, the company didn't have to look too far.  Amanda Morgan was just a short distance away in Tacoma.

Ms. Morgan was already a familiar face to to the Pacific Northwest Ballet, having studied at its school and also having studied at Dance Theatre Northwest.  She became an official member of the company in 2017 as a member of the corps de ballet.

Her roles with the Pacific Northwest Ballet have included roles in Red Angels and Emergence.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Chelsy Meiss, National Ballet of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Chelsy Meiss went a long way to find her place in ballet. Though she dances for the National Ballet of Canada, she's originally from Melbourne, and I ain't talking about a small town in Florida.

Yes, she's from Melbourne, Australia.  She trained there as a student at the Victorian College of The Arts and at the Australian Ballet School before making her way to the Great White North.  Having joined the National Ballet of Canada in 2008, she became a first soloist in 2015.

Ms. Meiss has danced some quite prestigious roles as a member of Canada's national ballet company, such as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, the Queen of Hearts in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire.  Her other credits include Giselle, The Winter’s Tale, Don Quixote, and In The Upper Room.

Citing another one of Ms. Meiss's performances, a role in The Seagull, the Ottawa Citizen declared her to be someone to watch in the National Ballet of Canada. So this wonder from Down Under has clearly left an impression on America's neighbors to the north.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Gayeon Jung, Joffrey Ballet, Chicago, IL

Gayeon Jung is a ballet dancer from Seoul who joined the Joffrey Ballet in 2015.

Ms. Jung had already assumed a very impressive number of credits by the time she graduated from the the Korea National University of Arts in 2014. Among the ballets she performed in then were Sleeping Beauty, La Fille mal gardée, Diana and Actéon, and Le Corsaire.  She also received numerous medals and prizes during her studies, including the 2011 gold medal in the Sicilia Barocca  International Dance Competition.  In 2012 she won the Arabesque Ballet Competition Gold Medal for Best Female Dancer, and in 2014 she won the gold medal at the Cape Town International Ballet Competition in South Africa.  She brought all of those accolades to the Joffrey, the great ballet company of the American heartland.

I have a feeling that she'll be a Joffrey staple for quite some time to come. 

The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Camila Ferrera, Indianapolis Ballet, Indianapolis, IN

How does a girl from Hoboken end up in two of the most prestigious ballet companies in the American Midwest?

Having a mom who's a dance instructor sure does help. :-)

Of dual Cuban and Argentine heritage - Cuba and Argentina about as far apart from each other as you can get in Latin America - Carla Ferrera began her training under her mother, Sonia Grimaldi, and continued at the School of American Ballet, which allowed her to perform in many productions of the  New York City Ballet before going into the really big time in ballet instruction - the American Ballet Theatre's dance school.  

She got two scholarships while at the ABT's school - the National Training Scholarship and the Mae L. Wien Scholarship for "outstanding talent, ability, and promise."  Pretty impressive!

Ms. Ferrera parlayed that outstanding talent, ability, and promise into a stint at the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago, and performed in numerous works. She joined the Indianapolis Ballet in 20118.

Fun fact: Camila Ferrera is also a dance instructor at the university level, having taught at universities in Ohio and in Argentina.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Jacqueline Callahan, Pennsylvania Ballet, Philadelphia, PA

Jacqueline Callahan is from Abington, Pennsylvania, a sprawling suburb just north of Philadelphia.  Although she went far and wide to train in ballet, she didn't have to go too far from home to find her place in the world of dance.

She trained in Boston and New York before going back to the Keystone State and joining the Pennsylvania Ballet's corps de ballet.  Her performances include roles in Angel Corella's Don Quixote, Christopher Wheeldon's Swan Lake, and of course, The Nutcracker.

Fun fact:  She's currently pursuing a communications degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Kathryn Boren, American Ballet Theatre, New York, NY

Kathryn Boren is a striking young dancer who joined the American Ballet Theatre's corps de ballet in 2015. 

She brings to the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) a wealth of experience from her training at the company's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School.  Her first major professional gig was at Staatsbellett Berlin, where she danced for two years beginning in 2011.  From 2013 to 2015, she danced with the Boston Ballet, where,she performed in George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, danced the principal in Jerome Robbins’ Interplay, and also danced in Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes.  She amassed even more credits in Boston - too many to list here.

A beautiful young woman, yes, but looking at her résumé, it's easy to see that Kathryn Boren is not just another pretty face.  Look for her to become a principal at ABT.

And speaking of pretty faces . . . one of the articles of faith that encourages me to keep this blog going is that a woman's natural beauty is always preferable to her cosmetic beauty. So as glamorous as Kathryn Boren looks when made up for a stage role . . . 

. . . she looks absolutely gorgeous without any makeup at all.

I told you that finding beautiful women in dance was easy-peasy! :-) 

The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven: Erica Alvarado, Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta, GA

Erica Alvarado is a dancer with a long track record prior to joining the Atlanta Ballet.

The Tucson native trained on both coasts, at the schools of both the San Francisco Ballet and New York's American Ballet Theatre. She stated out professionally at her hometown company, Ballet Tucson, where she danced leading roles primarily in ballets choreographed by Antony Tudor.  She later joined the Milwaukee Ballet II program, and, in 2011, became a principal dancer at the City Ballet of San Diego. 

Among the ballets she was a principal dancer of in San Diego are Firebird, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, and Serenade.  With such an impressive resume, it was inevitable that Ms. Alvarado would join one of the most important ballet companies in the Southeast.

New Series: The Beauty of Dance, Part Seven!

I'm featuring a month's worth of beautiful dancers - twelve of them this time - for the seventh time on this blog, and, when it comes to finding new subjects, I feel lucky.

And why not?  Dance, be it ballet or modern, requires a lot of grace and strength, even as it's easily the most effeminate art form ever conceived.  So finding beautiful women in dance is like shooting fish in a barrel.

So why do I only feature dancers every other year?  It would obviously be too tempting to include dancers all the time, as there are so many of them, and then it wouldn't be special when I did feature them.  Dance it its best represents performing artistry in its most beautiful and precious form, and so featuring on this blog women in ballet or modern dance should honor that by being available only rarely, at an appropriately timed interval - which, I've concluded, is two years.

So why in December?  I don't remember why I chose the last month of the year, but it may have had something to do with the fact that ballet companies thought the United States always stage The Nutcracker for Christmas.  And people always go to dance recitals over the holidays, whether the dance is Christmas-related or not.  So December seems to make sense.

Right, enough of my yakking.  Let's get this new series started.  Back soon with the first subject!

Sugar plum fairy, sugar plum fairy . . .