Each month we will feature one of our amazing Ambassadors. Get to know them better.... their life, ballet dreams, favorite role and ballet, pointe shoe brand....

Discover who is the Dancer of the Month.... this month!!!!

For the month of June 2020, we would like to feature our Ambassador

MICAELA SOL BONANNO

Senior Ambassador

 Micaela is from Argentina, and lives in beautiful Buenos Aires. She has been dancing for 15 years, and she wore her first pointe shoes when she was only 7!!

Micaela is at present attending the Advanced Ballet Course  at the Instituto Superior de Arte of the prestigeous Teatro Colon.

"I wake up every morning at 5am, and travel by bus and subway to the theatre, where my morning classes start at 7:30am. During the afternoon I generally have rehearsals with the school or with the Ballet Company, and I generally return home around 10pm. Since the month of March, and due to the pandemic, we are quaranteened. I follow a virtual ballet class every morning at 9:30am, brodcasted by our School, and afterwards I keep exercising on my own. 

Hobbies: watching ballets, reading, Fcebook and Instagram, listening to music

Favorite ballet: La Bayadere

My dream role: Nikiya

Favorite female dancer: Marianela Nunez

Favorite male dancer: Herman Cornejo

Brand of pointe shoes I wear: Gaynor Minden

VIRGINIA ARCHER

Hobbies: cooking, swimming, exploring and... of course BALLET!

Favorite Ballets: Don Quixote, Paquita, La Bayadere, The Awakening of Flora

Dream Roles: Nikiya, Lead Diamonds from "Jewels" and Juliet.

Favorite Female Dancer: Alina Somova

Favorite Male Dancer: Vladimir Muntagirov

Brand of Pointe Shoes she wears: Grishko Triumphs

August 2020

Get to know LILLA SMITH,

Dancer of the Month!

Senior Ambassador @ Dancewear by Patricia

Our Dance Ambassador Lilla Smith is originally from New Jersey. "I trained at a small dance school, North Jersey School of Dance Arts, until I was 16." She has been living in Pennsylvania for the past three years, while training at the Rock School.

"Some of my favorite memories from my dance training are dancing Snow Queen in the Nutcracker, competing at the World Ballet Competition Finals in Orlando, Florida, and participating in Ballet West's artemotion choreographic workshop last summer."

Lilla will be relocating to Columbia, South Carolina, this fall. She is beginning her professional career in the corps de ballet of Columbia Classical Ballet. "I am really excited to be with the Company, because I love classical ballets. I am looking forward to this next chapter of my career, and I am particularly excited that Columbia Classical Ballet will be performing Swan Lake this upcoming season!

Hobbies: shopping, baking, exercising. Lilla also enjoys going to Soulcycle and yoga classes.

Favorite Ballets: Giselle

Dream role: Myrtha in Giselle

Favorite Female Dancer: Beckanne Sisk

Favorite Male Dancer: Robbie Fairchild

Brand of pointe shoes she wears: Gaynor Minden sculpted fit

 September 2020

Get to know

ALEXIS WORKOWSKI

DANCER of the MONTH

Our Dance Ambassador Alexis Workowski is a Trainee with United Ballet Theatre in Orlando, Florida. She has lived in Florida her whole life, and began dancing at the age of 2.5. "I began to be more serious about ballet around the age of 8, which was when I entered my first ballet competition. 

Most days I wake up and get ready to start my day beginning with a bit of Conditioning/Pilates at home. Then I'm off to the studio where I begin my dance day with United Ballet Theatre. Each day, UBT provides a varying schedule, which always begins with a ballet class but follows it with  Pointe/Variations, Conditioning and/or Rehearsals. When I come home in the late afternoon, I enjoy a snack and get to work on my schooling. After I finish all of my homework, I practice piano, then I will workout/stretch a bit more on my own to complete my day."

Hobbies: I am classically trained in Piano, and I also love to bake.

Favorite Ballet: Giselle and Swan Lake

Dream Role:  Giselle or Odette/Odile.

Favorite Female Dancer: I have many that I absolutely love watching, but to name just a few, I would say...Svetlana Zakharova, Marianela Nunez, Isabella Boylston, and Skyler Brandt. 

Favorite Male Dancer: Roberto Bolle, Daniil Simkin, and Daniel Ulbricht.

Pointe shoes I wear: Suffolk Stellars

In this picture Alexis is modeling our California Sunset leotard with Wild Raspberry chiffon skirt.

October 2020:

Get to Know

CHLOE HORTON

Senior Ambassador @ Dancewear by Patricia

DANCER of the MONTH

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Our gorgeous Senior Dance Ambassador Chloe spent 7 years training at The Royal Ballet School in London. She is now training closer to her home at KS Dance in Warrington. "I usually I wake up at 6:30 and leave the house by 7:15 to get to college. I start the day with my own warmup before classes start, in order to get my body ready for the day. I then have classes from 9 to around 5 (this varies each day)." What Chloe loves about training at KS is that they do a Northwest tour during their second term, where they take a short ballet along with pieces of jazz, tap, commercial and others to young children, to hopefully get them interested in dance which she thinks is amazing. This year she got to perform as Belle in their own production of Beauty and the Beast, which was an amazing experience. 

Hobbies: I love doing something creative and have recently gotten into painting and embroidering canvases! I also love to go on long walks. 

Favorite ballet: Manon

Dream role: Juliet, Princess Aurora, Kitri

Favorite Female Dancer: Skylar Brandt

November 2020

LAIKA WINTEMUTE

Senior Ambassador @ Dancewear by Patricia

DANCER OF THE MONTH

 

Our beautiful Senior Ambassador Laika trained @ at L'ecole Supérieure du Ballet du Québec in Montreal Canada, but due to the pandemic, she moved to British Columbia to be closer to her family. "I am now training in Vancouver B.C. at The Dance Conservatory of West Vancouver. It feels great to be back closer to the ocean. . For the coming year I am really looking forward to going on an audition tour and hopefully fulfilling my dream of becoming a professional dancer."

Laika has been wearing custom Repetto pointe shoes. When she needs a back up shoe, her go to is the Grishko Miracle. Her pointe shoe routine always includes darning them.

Hobbies: running, hiking, enjoying the beach, and fashion design.

Favorite ballet: The Sleeping Beauty

Dream role: Princess Aurora, Dew Drop in Baanchine's Nutcracker.

Favorite female Dancer: Darcey Bussel

Favorite male Dancer: Denys Cherevychko

In this picture Laika is wering Dancewear by Patricia's Sahara Sand mesh skirt and Frappuccino leotard!

 

December

ELENA HERTENSTEIN

DANCER of the MONTH

 Our talented Ambassador Elena is 20 years old, and has been dancing since the age of 3. Since 2015 she dances at DanceEmotion Studio in Freiburg, Germany, where she currently lives. "With my ballet company I share many wonderful memories of performing on stage together, which I currently miss a lot because we can´t perform or dance together due to the pandemic. Luckily we have zoom classes, so we can keep dancing at home and come back stronger as a team again hopefully soon."

Elena also performs solos at performances and national such as international ballet competitions. "Last year I went to the Dance World Cup in Portugal, which is an experience I will never forget. This year I finished my finals at school, and currently I am thinking about how I want to create my future as a dancer."

Pointe shoes she wears; Elena currently wears Grishko Dream

Favorite hobbies: listening to music, photography, drawing, meeting friends and watching ballet, going to the theatre.

Favorite ballets: Swan Lake, Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Jewels, Le Corsaire.

Dream role: Macha, Odetta, Lead Diamond in "Jewels", Nikiya. Pointe and Gaymor Minden hard shank.

Favorite female dancer; Evghenia Obrastzova, Ulyana Lopatkina, Alina Somova.

Favorite male dancer: Roberto Bolle, Kimin Kim, Friedemann Vogel

In this picture Elena is gracefully wearing our "Raspberry Pavlova" leotard with mesh and "Wild Raspberry" chiffon rehearsal skirt.

 

 January 2021

 

Yağmur Uzsen

Dancer of the Month

Our Dance Ambassador Yagmur Uzsen is currently training at the Conservatory of Istanbul, Turkey. "Studying ballet alone feels like therapy to my soul, and my goal is to always be better. During this period of pandemic, sometimes my motivation decreases, but I always tell myself that I have to work, and I remind that everything will be better."

Favorite Hobbies:  swimming, reading, cooking

Pointe Shoes:  Merlet Diva

Favorite Female Dancer:  May Nagahisa

Favorite Male Dancer:  Mikhail Barysnikov

Favorite ballet: Don Quixote

Dream role: Dulcinea

" I am very grateful for the value Dancewear by Patricia has brought to the dance world. I really love the quality of their products. You can find products that everyone will love on the website. I've worn Dancewear by Patricia's products until now, and they are really comfortable. They are as light as a feather on you, and very stylish. Thanks to them, I'm very stylish now. Thank you so much for everything."

February 2021

AMBER HUGGET

Dancer of the Month

 

Amber is one of our last additions to our Ambassadors' Team, and we are extremely happy to have her!

"My name is Amber Marie Huggett, I'm eighteen years old, and I live in Nashville, TN. I've been dancing since I was two years old and I cannot imagine where I would be today if dance hadn't entered my life at such an early age. The studio where I first began my training was Rhythm Pointe Dance Academy in Shelby Township, Michigan. I took jazz, tap, and ballet classes during my time there. When I turned four, we moved to Tennessee and that's when I decided I would solely focus on ballet. Ever since we moved, I have been dancing at the School of Nashville Ballet. I started at the beginning of heir system, and I am now dancing in their Professional Training Division. " Amber was granted a merit scholarship during the 2017-2018 school year as a reward for all of her hard work. She takes ballet, pointe, variations, and modern classes Monday through Friday of each week, with rehearsals here and there, depending on what They are preparing for. She also takes Pilates privates once a week to help with strength training.

"During my time dancing with Nashville Ballet, I've gotten to perform alongside the company in performances, such as Nashville's Nutcracker, Peter Pan, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I have also been given standout roles in numerous academy showcase performances. Recently, I traveled to Winston-Salem, NC to compete in my first YAGP. I placed top 24 in the senior classical category and am beyond thankful for the entire experience. My dream is to become a professional ballerina and I feel that if I continue giving my all in the studio each and every day, I will get there."

Favorite hobbies: dancing, baking, traveling, and playing the piano.

Pointe shoes she wears: Suffolk Sonnet pointe shoes.

Favorite female dancer: Marianela Nuñez. "She is absolutely breathtaking; her artistry, technique, and extensions are so lovely to watch."

Favorite male dancer: Luca Sportelli.  "I always enjoyed watching him turn, jump, and glide through the space."

Favorite ballet: La Fille Mal Gardée. I"t is such a joyful, energetic ballet to watch and I feel like not too many places perform it."

Dream role: Lise from La Fille Mal Gardée. "Her character is very light, bright, and youthful, which are all things I'm more drawn to with ballet roles."

"I think that Dancewear by Patricia is a high-quality dancewear brand with lovely color combinations and infinite options. You can scroll through the website for hours and find that every single item is nothing short of stunning. I feel very blessed to be an ambassador for a company that supplies such gorgeous costumes, leotards, skirts, warmups, and more."

March

ALICIA VAN VLERKEN KAPNISSI

 

Our Ambassador Alicia van Vlerken is 20 years old and  lives in Brussels.

She studies at the University in Brussels and is also training in classical ballet and contemporary at the Dance Conservatory of Brussels.

"Training and studying in parallel is challenging but dance keeps me disciplined, motivated and focused on my goals. In the last years, I have been lucky to participate in a few competitions and joined several summer Intensives in different wonderful countries as Russia, Estonia, Spain… There were great experiences not only for the intensive interesting  training but also to living with other dancers from all over the world and share the same goal and dream of becoming a professional dancer one day. I have been dancing since the age of four and have been in a theatre troupe in my school years;  performing on a stage is always a pleasure!"

Alicia loves dancing "not only because it is a beautiful art, I love it because of how challenging it is.  You have always something new to learn, something to improve." 

 

Favorite hobbies:  watching ballet and contemporary pieces, listening to music, cooking, reading.

 

Pointe shoe brand and style currently worn: Pointe shoes by Gaynor Minden Europe  “SCULPTED”

 

Favorite Female Dancer: Marianela Nunez and Natalia Osipova

 

Favorite Male Dancer: Roberto Bolle and Daniil Simkin

 

Favorite Ballet: Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty

 

Dream Role: White/ Black Swan

 

What do you think of Dancewear by Patricia?

 

"Dancewear by Patricia is an amazing brand. There is so much choice, beautiful dance clothes with vibrant colors and so easy to wear and match. Another good thing is that the brand also sells every costume of any dream role in different styles for each taste and in superb quality. Last but not least, I love the fact that it is a brand for everybody: for male and female dancers, for kids and professionals."