Episode 2: Becca Voelpel

08/12/19 • 15 min

In this episode, we hear from former Washington Ballet soloist Becca Voelpel. She talks to us about her experience in the filming of "First Position" and what followed during her professional career.
Becca trained at the Kirov Academy, as well as Maryland Youth Ballet, and was featured in the award-winning 2011 documentary First Position. After high school, Becca became a company member at Washington Ballet before pursuing higher education at Towson University. She currently resides in Baltimore and is a guest teacher at local studios and schools.

Previous Episode

Episode 1: Katie Williams

In our opening episode, we hear from American Ballet Theatre soloist Katie Williams. We talk about her background, training techniques, experiences as a professional, and more.
After starting her early training with the Hawaii State Ballet, Katie moved with her family to Maryland where she began training at the Ballet Royale Academy. She joined the JKO School at ABT in 2005, and she was brought into the company as an apprentice in December 2007. She was promoted to the corps in June 2008 and to Soloist in September 2018.

Next Episode

Episode 3: Alex Basmagy

In this episode, we hear from ABT company member Alex Basmagy and talk about the path she took to get to ABT, the importance of character in ballet, and the role of the corps de ballet. After starting her training at the Academy of Dance Arts and later at Studio Maestro in New York, Alex joined JKO school in 2004. After graduating, Alex moved to Spain where she spent three years as an inaugural member of Corella Ballet Castilla y León in Segovia. In 2011, she returned to New York and joined ABT as a corps member.