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MICHELE WILES
She created leading roles in Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra, Gong, One of Three and Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison. Videos featuring Michele:
Performing in: La Bayadère 5/19/2010, 5/22/2010 Finis: Michele, I've known you since you were 14 and first appeared in class at The Broadway Dance Center, and since then your career has been going full speed ahead. Tell us what you're doing right now, and then we'll go back to the beginning. Michele: I'm on my way to Brazil. I'm doing a Gala Performance in Rio with Marcelo Gomes and Genadi Slaviev. They're both in ABT, and I'll be dancing the pas de deux from Le Corsaire and Grand Pas Classique, and the third variation from the second act of Bayadere. Finis: Oh yes, I saw you dance that variation at during the Met Season, and you were fabulous. Such ease and confidence - and that's what the critics said, too! Let's see, you've just come back from Japan. How did it go? Michele: It went really well. I danced Bayadere, Push Comes to Shove, Gaite, Romeo & Juliet. The audience really liked us. I had a really good performance the last night - while doing the variation I was able to do my fondu relevé and keep the balance while changing poses. Kevin (McKenzie) the director of ABT, said "Did you get stuck?" Finis: Ha! That's the kind of problems all dancers wish they had! Let's talk about the spring season at the Met. What were your high points? Michele: The first one was when I danced one of the three Odalisques in Corsaire. Actually, I wasn't slated to perform it, I was an understudy, but didn't really get a chance to rehearse it due to scheduling problems. Well, the first cast dancer got injured, and so I was told two days before the opening performance that I would be dancing it. So I had just that short period of time to prepare myself. Finis: Well, I was at the opening performance, and saw you dance, much to my surprise, because you weren't listed to do it, and believe me, you looked absolutely prepared and just sailed right through that difficult variation. And smiling beautifully, too, with such graceful arms and expressive upper body. Not to mention clean and precise foot and leg work. What else did you especially enjoy? Michele: I danced one of the harlots in Romeo & Juliet. I loved doing it, because there's a lot of acting, and the three of us get to dance with the principal men. It's a real change of pace from wearing a tutu and pointe shoes, to wearing a huge frowsy red wig and a painted face and heels. Finis: I also saw you do the most difficult variation from the Shades trio in the famous second act of Bayadere. That has to be one of the most difficult variations ever choreographed. So slow, and requiring so much turn-out, demi-plié and balance. And you made it look easy as pie. You looked so calm and relaxed. How did you feel while performing it? Michele: Oh boy. The first night I was kind of nervous. It's scary, because the Met stage is so big, and we're dancing behind a scrim, and when you look out front all you see is pitch black. So to keep myself from falling over, I looked at the conductor, because he has a light, and that was the only thing I could focus on. That was for the first two diagonals. After that, it was easy, because the remainder of the variation was all jumping and bourrées.
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As predicted, Michele has come a long way and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2005. Her roles with the Company include Polyhymnia in Apollo, Gamzatti and a Shade in La Bayadère, the Fairy Godmother and the Winter Fairy in Ben Stevenson's Cinderella, Aurora in Coppélia, Medora and an Odalisque in Le Corsaire, Kitri, Queen of the Driads and a flower girl in Don Quixote, Hermia in The Dream, Moyna in Giselle, Grand Pas Classique, His Experiences in HereAfter, Lescaut’s Mistress in Manon, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Hagar in Pillar of Fire, the Siren in Prodigal Son, Raymonda and Clemence in Raymonda, Princess Aurora and Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Odette-Odile, the pas de trois and the Polish Princess in Swan Lake, Ceres and the title role in Sylvia, the fourth movement in Symphony in C, the pas de six in The Taming of the Shrew, the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and leading roles in Baker's Dozen, Ballet Imperial, Ballo della Regina, Black Tuesday, The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Dark Elegies, Diversion of Angels, Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes, Études, Glow - Stop, In The Upper Room, The Leaves Are Fading, Marimba, One of Three, Petite Mort, Sinfonietta, Symphonie Concertante, Theme and Variations and workwithinwork.
