UpClose: Artist-In-Residence Calvin Royal III

Calvin Royal III

Calvin Royal III began his formal dance training at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida under the direction of Suzanne Pomerantze􀀁 and Patricia L. Paige. He was a finalist at the Youth America Grand Prix Competition, and was awarded the Ethan Stiefel Scholarship to train at American Ballet Theatre’s (ABT) Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in 2006. Royal joined ABT II in 2008, ABT main company as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2011. In September 2017 he was promoted to Soloist and in September 2020 Royal was appointed Principal Dancer with ABT. He has soared across stages worldwide with ABT in productions of Swan Lake, Manon, Fancy Free, Apollo, Giselle, and Romeo & Juliet. Royal has been featured in works by Twyla Tharp, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, Kyle Abraham, Justin Peck, Wayne McGreggor, Michelle Dorrance, Jamar Roberts, and many more. He was nominated for numerous awards including the Clive Barnes Award, the winner of the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in 2014, a $50,000 grant to further his artistic development working with private coaches at the Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet. Royal was named the July 2020 cover star of Dance Magazine, and continues to expand his outreach in mentorship as well as conducting masterclass series for young dance students worldwide. Royal is represented by IMG Models and has been featured in global campaigns for GAP, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Canali, starred in the 2019 Pirelli Calendar alongside Misty Copeland, and named the 2020/21 Artist-in-Residence here at the Vail Dance Festival.

Follow Calvin on Instagram @calvinroyaliii and to learn more visit calvinroyaliii.com.

Unity Phelan

Unity Phelan is a Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet. Born in Princeton, NJ, she began her dance training at age 5 at the Princeton Ballet School and came to the School of American Ballet in 2009. Named an NYCB apprentice in 2012, she joined the NYCB corps de ballet in 2013, was promoted to Soloist in 2017, and to Principal Dancer in 2021. Her repertory includes leading roles in works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Robert Binet, William Forsythe, Lauren Lovette, Peter Martins, Andrea Miller, Matthew Neenan, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, Jamar Roberts, and Christopher Wheeldon. 

Melissa Toogood

Melissa Toogood is a New York Dance and Performance Award winning Performer. She is Dancer, Rehearsal Director and Artistic Associate for Pam Tanowitz Dance. Melissa was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, has taught Cunningham Technique internationally since 2007, is a 2013 & 2015 Merce Cunningham fellow, and is an official stager for the Merce Cunningham Trust. She has performed with Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, Kimberly Bartosik, Wally Cardona, Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, Stephen Petronio Company, Miro Dance Theater, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Reiner, Sally Silvers, Michael Uthoff Dance Theater, Christopher Williams, The Bang Group:Tap Lab, and others. She has made work for New York Theater Ballet, Boston Ballet, Vail Dance Festival and created her own show titled Set A|Part in collaboration with her sister Jodie Toogood and visual artist Kenneth E. Parris III. Dance Magazine named her in their 25 to watch (2014) and featured her in the inaugural episode of Behind the Curtain. Toogood is originally from Sydney, Australia, is a proud mom, and holds a B.F.A in Dance Performance from New World School of the Arts, Miami, FL.

Mira Nadon

Mira Nadon was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and began her ballet training at the age of six at the Inland Pacific Ballet Academy in Montclair, California under the direction of Victoria Keonig and Jill Voznick.

She attended summer courses at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of NYCB, in 2014 and 2015, before entering SAB full-time for the 2015 winter term.

In November 2017, Ms. Nadon became an apprentice with NYCB and as an apprentice she originated a corps role in Gianna Reisen’s Judah. She joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in November 2018.

Ms. Nadon was promoted to the rank of soloist in January 2022.

_{Photo © Erin Baiano}

Tiler Peck

Tiler Peck has been a Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet since 2009. She made her Broadway debut at age 11 as Gracie Shinn inThe Music Man and was seen on Broadway as Ivy Smith in the Tony Nominated On The Town.She originated the title role in Susan Stroman’s newest musical Little Dancer at the Kennedy Center and is attached to star in the Broadway production. Tiler made her choreographic debut at the Vail Dance Festival in 2018 and has gone on to choreograph and appear in episodes of Tiny Pretty Things and Ray Donovan, and she recently choreographed the box office smash hit film John Wick 3. She has also appeared on Dancing with the Stars, the Kennedy Center Honors and Live From Lincoln Center’s The Nutcracker and Carousel. As a guest star, she was the first ballerina ever to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In film she has starred in “Ballet Now”, a Hulu documentary that followed her as she became the first woman to curate and star in The Los Angeles Music Center’s presentation of BalletNOW, “Ballet 422”, “A Time for Dancing”, and “Donnie Darko”. She is a recipient of the Princess Grace Statue Award, The Dance Magazine Award and was named one of Forbes 30 under 30.

To keep the dance world connected during the pandemic, Tiler developed a free ballet class #TurnItOutWithTiler that airs on her Instagram. She is the designer of Tiler Peck Designs for Body Wrappers, a studio-to-streetwear clothing line and is also the designer of the capsule collection Tiler Peck X STATESIDE in collaboration with the popular Los Angeles-based clothing company. She has released two children’s books with Simon & Schuster, Katarina Ballerina and Katarina Ballerina & The Victory Dance.

@tilerpeck