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Dancers Win Top Scholarships
American Ballet Theater, Kirov Ballet Accept
9 Students from St. Croix Ballet for Summer Programs
Stillwater, MN 2.1.07. Nine dancers from Stillwater-based St. Croix Ballet have been accepted to two of the world’s most prestigious classical dance institutions for their summer program. The local students, including two male dancers, will be attending New York’s American Ballet Theater (ABT), made famous by Mikhail Baryshnikov, and the Kirov Ballet of Washington, DC a sister training center to the Kirov in St. Petersburg, Russia.
“This is a remarkable achievement,” said Karla Sweeney, owner and director of St. Croix Ballet. “Most local studios may have one or two students attend such national programs, but to have nine dancers chosen is quite an honor. What’s more, five of the nine will receive financial scholarships to attend, which reflects how well these two organizations, who audition students in major cities all over the country, thought of the local talent.” Both ABT and the Kirov recently held auditions in Minneapolis and all nine of the St. Croix Ballet students were accepted to both programs.
To quote Dance Magazine (May, 2007, p.63) "Six or seven hundred students may audition. About 140 will qualify to attend the summer program from which perhaps 2 or 3, sometimes more, students will be chosen for the professional training."
The St. Croix Ballet students include Anne Gutierrez (15), Britta Anderson (15), Krista Swedenburg (15), Callie Peterson (13), and Monica Grandlienard (17), all of Stillwater; Liam Hovey (15), and Olivia Hovey (13), of Mahtomedi; Barry Molina (15) of Bloomington, and Gloria Wahlroos (17) of St. Paul. In addition, Ashley Belisle (14) of Stillwater was accepted as an alternate to the Kirov. Except for Liam and Olivia Hovey, who moved to the Stillwater area in 2004, all the students have been taking classical ballet at St. Croix Ballet for over ten years. In addition, Molina Grandlienard, Barry Molina, and Gloria Wahlroos also attend the St. Paul Conservatory for the Performing Arts, a charter high school for the arts in St. Paul.
Six of the dancers will attend the Kirov in Washington, DC this summer, Barry Molina will go to ABT in New York City and Olivia Hovey has decided to attend another prestigious school, the Harid Conservatory, a year-round ballet academy in Boca Raton, Florida.
St. Croix Ballet utilizes the Russian Vaganova method of training at the Stillwater studio. Director Sweeney credits the training “and a truly talented crop of hard-working, gifted students” for the success. In addition to Ms. Sweeney, other teachers over the past several years have included Kirov-trained teachers Kirill Bak and Svetlana Gavrilova, Grigoriy Ilyevskiy, Cheri Bell, Nesiyan Tobak, and Susan Hovey, Mahtomedi.
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