Meet Maggie | Dancer of the Year Nominee
Meet Maggie
dancer of the year nominee
rva dance awards
I began dancing at The School of Richmond Ballet when I was about 4 years old. Throughout my training at SRB I completed the trainee, apprentice, and Minds In Motion programs, and attended New York University before joining the full company at Richmond Ballet. While dancing professionally, in 2017 I earned a B.A. in Performing Arts through the LEAP Program at St. Mary’s College of California. While with Richmond Ballet, I had the opportunity to originate and perform many roles and to dance at the Linbury Theatre in the Royal Opera House in London, in the Chicago Dancing Festival, in the Spring to Dance Festival in St. Louis, Missouri and multiple times at the Joyce Theater in New York City. Being a Richmond native, I loved dancing in my hometown, but wanted to make sure I had opportunities to work in other environments as well. I spent summers working with National Choreographers Initiative, VOICE Dance Company, Pacific Arts Society and Jessica Lang Dance, with whom I performed at Jacob’s Pillow. More recently I have spent the summers exploring the fusion of ballet and rock music with ARC Entertainment Company based in San Diego.
Throughout my career I have been grateful to realize dreams that could not have fathomed for myself in my training days. In 2012, I had the honor of being featured on the cover of Dance Magazine as Richmond Ballet’s ‘Homegrown Ballerina’ and in 2013 I was honored by the Links to receive the “Hometown Hero” award. Later I was featured on the back page of Pointe in the “Reverence” section in 2017 as well as on the back page of Dance Magazinewriting for their “Why I Dance” column in 2018. In January of 2019 I was invited to perform alongside Carmen de Lavallade in “Life of a Legend: Carmen de Lavallade” at Jazz at Lincoln Center. In September I performed my culminating shows as a full company member of the Richmond Ballet, finishing her 16 year career with the company in John Butler’s “Carmina Burana”. As I have just finished the Richmond Ballet company dancer chapter in my life, I am eager to see where my passion for dance takes me next.
I am excited to be nominated as Dancer of the Year because there are so many incredible artists in Richmond who could be included in this category and I am humbled to be considered among those chosen this year. As the dance world in Richmond continues to expand and grow, I am honored to be recognized even as a nominee for my contributions on the ballet stage.
Fun fact: I love playing Scrabble and Bananagrams! Growing up my mom would give me a word of the day on the way to ballet and on the drive home I would try to use it in reference to describing how my day went. My love of words almost parallels my love of dancing.