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Saturday, December 19 at 2pm & 7pm
Sunday, December 20 at 3pm
Monday, December 21 at 7pm
Tuesday, December 22 at 7pm
Brian Waldrep was born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He first began to study Irish step dancing at the age of seven. Later, at the age of eight he began studying classical ballet at the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA). During his high school years at NCSA he trained intensively with Kee-Juan Han, Warren Conover, Melissa Hayden, Nina Danilova and Susan McCullough. Awarded full scholarships, he attended summer intensives with Houston Ballet in 2004 and 2005, Boston Ballet in 2006 and American Ballet Theatre in 2007.
Brian performed the Cavalier in NCSA's production of The Nutcracker before being invited to join American Ballet Theatre's ABT II in 2007. His repertoire at ABT II so far includes the principal lead in Raymonda, roles in Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Azure Barton’s Barbara and the third couple in Anthony Tudor’s Continuo.
Brian will once again perform in the Maple Youth Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker for five performances on December 19-22 at the Northwood Performing Arts Theatre in Irvine.
"ABT II is an exciting young company with beautifully trained and dedicated dancers," said Charles Maple, Artistic Director of the Maple Youth Ballet. "I had the opportunity recently to see ABT II perform at the Laguna Dance Festival. ABT II delights audiences with its youthful vigor and panache and their dancers are like firecrackers! I later spoke to ABT II's Artistic Director Wes Chapman about inviting Brian to perform in the Maple Youth Ballet’s Nutcracker production and Wes felt that Brian would be the ideal dancer for our production," said Charles.
"Brian is an up-and-coming star who will leave our Nutcracker audience in awe," said Charles. “He has determination, strength and grace and he will perform with an appealing blend of freshness and individual presence that fits in perfectly with our Maple Youth Ballet mission."
Brian Waldrep's performances with ABT II are generously underwritten through an endowed gift from Lori and Stephen Garofalo.
© American Ballet TheatreAmerican Ballet Theatre's acclaimed ABT II is a classical company of 13 young dancers, ages 16-20, who show outstanding potential and are hand-picked from around the world by the artistic staff of American Ballet Theatre. Under the artistic direction of Wes Chapman, ABT II dancers are exposed to new and established choreographers and composers. They perform in national performances, lecture-demonstrations and academic residencies throughout the United States, as well as with American Ballet Theatre's main company in large-scale ballets such as Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. ABT II brings the excitement of close contact with a professional company into a variety of communities around the country. ABT II dancers train in the program for one or two years before joining American Ballet Theatre's main company or other leading national and international professional companies.
