Dance Peninsula ballet student dances with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

This past weekend a local dancer from Dance Peninsula Ballet shared the stage with one of America’s most prestigious professional ballet companies, American Ballet Theatre (ABT).  ABT was in Los Angeles with their stunning production of the classical ballet, Le Corsaire, which the New York based company performed at The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at The Music Center on July 12-14th.  On stage during Act III was Dance Peninsula Ballet company member, Madison Browning.  Madison auditioned to be a child performer in the Los Angeles production of Le Corsaire last March with the encouragement of Dance Peninsula artistic director, Roberto Almaguer, and has been rehearsing regularly in the San Fernando Valley preparing for the performance.   Madison said of the experience, “dancing with ABT in Le Corsaire was an amazing experience! I am so grateful that Mr. Roberto encouraged me to audition. We began rehearsals in March and over the months I made some great friends with the other supernumeraries from all over Southern California! The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was beautiful and huge, compared to the theater I am used of dancing in.  The first time I stepped onto the stage I looked out at the four levels of seating and it took my breath away! The costumes and sets were gorgeous, too! I loved getting to see all of the amazing dancers perform in person. It was truly a dream to get to dance alongside so many accomplished dancers. And it was so much fun getting my pointe shoes signed by my favorite ABT soloists and principal dancers.  It was an incredible experience!”  Madison’s pointe shoes were signed by ABT soloist Misty Copeland and Isabella Boylston and ABT Principal Dancers, Xiomara Reyes and Paloma Herrera.  
Madison has had a busy year having joined Dance Peninsula in September 2012 and danced the coveted role of Clara in Dance Peninsula’s 2012 Nutcracker production.  In June she attended a Ballet Summer Intensive with San Francisco Ballet and returned to a rigorous rehearsal schedule for the ABT production.  In addition to Madison’s achievements, many 2012-2013 Dance Peninsula company members received scholarships and were accepted into nationally recognized Summer Intensive Programs including American Ballet Theatre (New York, Irvine), Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Ballet West, San Francisco Ballet, School of American Ballet, The Rock Ballet, The Royal Ballet of London and The Washington School of Ballet.  Dance Peninsula members study under the artistic direction of Roberto Almaguer, a former principal dancer with Ballet Nacional de Cuba and internationally recognized master ballet instructor.    The accomplishments of the dancers this past year has given Dance Peninsula something to celebrate as the Artistic Director and the Board of Directors faced the difficult decision to cancel the upcoming 2013 season due to low company membership levels.  Dance Peninsula and Mr. Almaguer will use the upcoming year to explore ways to continue to support dance students and the art of ballet in our community going into the future.