Maia Wilkins is an American

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

. She was a principal dancer for the

Joffrey Ballet The Joffrey Ballet is one of the premier dance companies and training institutions in the world today. Located in Chicago, Illinois, the Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at Lyric O ...

from 1991 until 2008. She was the principal of Sacramento Ballet School and is currently the Associate Director of Ballet at Northern California Dance Conservatory. She used to teach ballet and re-stages Joffrey and Arpino works for the Arpino Foundation.

Early life

Wilkins was born at home in

Truckee, California Truckee is an incorporated town in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 16,180, reflecting an increase of 2,316 from the 13,864 counted in the 2000 Census and having the 316th highe ...

and had her primary pre-professional training with Maggie Banks (former Principal with

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

) in Reno, Nevada. Wilkins moved to New York when she was 15 to continue her professional training at the Joffrey Ballet School. Wilkins joined the Joffrey Ballet in 1991.

Career

After joining the Joffrey Ballet, Wilkins became a leading dancer (Joffrey is officially an unranked company). She went on to dance the lead in many of Joffrey and Arpino's works. She has appeared in both ''

Save the Last Dance ''Save the Last Dance'' is a 2001 American teen dance film produced by MTV Films, directed by Thomas Carter and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas as a teenage interracial couple in Chicago w ...

'' and '' The Company''. The ''

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'' praised her dancing in a performance of ''Kettentanz'' in 1997. The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' called her dancing as Caroline in ''

Jardin aux Lilas ''Jardin aux lilas'' (''Lilac Garden'') is a ballet in one act choreographed by Antony Tudor to a composition by Ernest Chausson entitled '' Poème'', Op. 25. With scenery and costumes designed by Hugo Stevenson, it was first presented by Ballet R ...

'' in 2002 "a superbly articulated performance." As the Sugar Plum Fairy in a 2006 performance of the ''

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'', the ''

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'' described her as "the requisite Sugar Plum Fairy package and then some -- she was delicate, classically pure and never dropped her smile, even when whipping off an array of turns with gyroscopic certainty." Wilkins was in many of Arpino's Pas de Duex, including Sea Shadow, Light Rain and Secret Places. Wilkins was awarded two Ruth Page Awards for Artistic Excellence and interpretation. Wilkins was named one of the

25 to watch 5 (five) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typ ...

by ''

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' has multiple sister publications, including ''Pointe' ...

'' in 2002. She appeared on the cover of ''Dance Magazine'' twice, once for the Joffrey Ballet and the second time as an American Ballerina. In 2008, Wilkins retired from the Joffrey Ballet after her contract was not renewed in favor of recruiting younger dancers.

Early life

Career

References

Further reading