Chloe Misseldine is an American

ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

who is currently a

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be either gender. The position is similar to that of ''Soloist (ballet), solois ...

with the

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. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...

(ABT).

Early life

Misseldine was born in Orlando, Florida, where she grew up dancing at the Orlando Ballet School. Her mother, Yan Chen, was also a dancer with American Ballet Theatre, and was a ballet mistress at Orlando Ballet School while Misseldine was growing up. Though she stopped attending regular school during high school to focus on training, Misseldine continued her studies online, even after moving to New York to start her professional career at age 16. When she finished high school, she started taking classes at

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

(a popular choice for New York City ballet dancers, as the college has a

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

campus as well as a dual program with

Alvin Ailey Alvin Ailey Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Cent ...

). In 2017, Misseldine was awarded second place at the

Youth America Grand Prix Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) is a non-profit international youth ballet and contemporary dance competition and scholarship program established in 1999. Overview Each year, over 10,000 dancers participate in the competitions and auditions YAGP ...

competition in senior women's classical. In 2018, she competed in the prestigious

Prix de Lausanne The Prix de Lausanne () is an international dance competition held annually in Lausanne, Switzerland. The competition is for young dancers seeking to pursue a professional career in classical ballet, and many former prize winners of the competition ...

, and was a finalist, again following in her mother's footsteps (Yan Chen was a prizewinner at the competition in 1987).

Career

Misseldine joined

's Studio Company in 2018 after participating in multiple ABT Summer Intensives. She became an apprentice with the main company in December 2019, but only had a few months before the pandemic hit. During the pandemic, she returned home to Orlando, where she ended up performing with the Orlando Ballet (who had returned to in-person work before ABT did) in productions of

Sleeping Beauty "Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

, and Jorden Morris' Moulin Rouge. Misseldine joined the

Corps de Ballet In ballet, the ''corps de ballet'' (; French language, French for "body of the little dance") is the group of ballet dancer, dancers who are not principal dancers or Soloist (ballet), soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and ...

of ABT by September 2021, and was promoted to the rank of soloist in September 2022. In July 2024, she was promoted to Principal dancer by director

Susan Jaffe Susan Jaffe (born 1962) is an American ballet dancer and arts administrator. She is currently the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre, where she had danced for 22 years and held the rank of principal dancer. She previously served as ...

on stage after a sold-out run of

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

Selected repertoire

Misseldine's repertoire with the American Ballet Theatre includes:

Personal life

Misseldine lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Her hobbies outside of dance include baking.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Misseldine, Chloe 21st-century American ballet dancers American Ballet Theatre principal dancers People from Orlando, Florida