We were lucky to catch up with Michele Wiles recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Michele, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I’m pretty sure I got my work ethic from my Dad. He created his own business called Wiles Construction about 50 years ago. As long as I can remember he would leave the house at 4am and would return around 3pm (sometimes on holidays). Both of my parents had a huge capacity and acceptance for the work I needed to put into my craft. To succeed in the world of ballet you need a strong family support system. At the ages of 10-16 I had the opportunity to travel to Russia, England, France, Japan, Seoul Korea, and Bulgaria- my parents (sometimes my brother) were right there with me. We all had that what ever it takes mentality. This drive and dedication supported me through a 15 year career with American Ballet Theatre. I rose through the ranks and became Principal Ballerina in 2005.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
In the summer of 2011, I performed my last Swan Lake at the Metropolitan Opera House with American Ballet Theatre and launched BalletNEXT that November to a sold out house at the Joyce Theater. After 15 years with the ABT in a very high pressured environment, I needed to step away and explore another part of my artistry to keep growing. For a principal dancer to step away from big stage at the peak came with a lot of controversy – lots of sharp reactions. And I certainly did not appreciate how difficult and complex creating a new performance platform was going to be – in some aspects much harder than rising through the ranks in a major company. But an explosion of creativity came with the difficulties – my choreography took off and I experienced new forms of dance I would never have engaged in a classical ballet company. I also went to the school of business hard knocks – they don’t teach you how become business manager in ballet studio!
In 2018 The University of Utah invited me to choreograph a ballet on their top 8 dancers which we toured at the New Victory Theatre on Broadway and Bill T. Jones’s Live Arts Theatre that year. I became an adjunct professor at the U for 18 months. During that time my husband, who has been skiing here since late 1980s, and I took a drive to Park City and I fell in love. That same weekend we bought a condo on Main Street and everything began to fall into place in a magical and very natural way. We left New York City for good and moved full time to Park City the summer of 2019. Honestly, it’s the warmth of the Park City community that has made me feel so at home here. The community support is an inspiration and is the perfect environment to build a world-class, professional performing ballet company.
Park City does community the best! We have forged incredible partnerships with many groups including the Park City Institute, the Park City Library and Park City. The infrastructure available for performance artists here including the Santy Auditorium and the Eccles Center are critical to being able to put on professional performance. I love the engagement of children here, many seeing ballet for their first time. We are getting a flood of interest from children wanting to participate in some of our excerpt classical productions like Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Also, the number of high-end professional athletes I’m constantly interacting who live in Park City keeps me inspired to dance at a professional level. It’s a fascinating mix of people who have come here to live.
Look for performances coming up at the Jim Santy Auditorium June 21, July 17 and 18 in partnership with the Park City Library.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three areas that were most important and are still important- curiosity, consistency, and a will to keep going! It’s not easy to forge your own path. It requires creativity- if something doesn’t work – there is always another way- you just have to find it. It’s about the journey not the end result.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
I Was A Dancer by Jacques D’Amboise. Jacques was a New York City Ballet dancer back when Balanchine was first creating the company. This book really inspired me to create my own company! Balanchine was an entrepreneur and NYCB failed and restarted several times before becoming an institution. Jacques mentioned sometimes there were more people on stage than in the audience. You just have to keep moving forward and creating- wonderful things will happen.
Contact Info:
- Website: Balletnext.org
- Instagram: Balletnext
Image Credits
Beau Pearson photography
