Check out Maggie Rupp’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maggie Rupp.

Maggie, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I started dancing at the age of 3. I loved everything about jazz and tap, yet ballet terrified me. So much so that my mother had to bribe me with chocolate to make it through class. While I continued forward with all those forms of dancing, ballet wasn’t my favorite. However, I had to take it to be able to do jazz and tap because ballet is the foundation of dancing. Then, one day, in an audition for the role of “Clara” in “The Nutcracker,” our teacher, Dana Bliss, didn’t have enough Nutcrackers to hand out to each girl, so I was left holding a stinky ballet slipper that I had to pretend was my Nutcracker that I was so in love with. I remember thinking to myself “are you kidding me? this is silly, and I would rather be anywhere else, but here, I’m going to end up making a fool of myself.” Another thought crept in shortly after saying, “well if you’re going to act like this ballet slipper is a Nutcracker, you better go big or go home.” I found as soon as I let my guard down with acting in ballet that day, I discovered it was my calling, and I knew that’s exactly what I wanted to do. So strange how it can only take one little incident to completely open your eyes and heart.

After that, I moved my training to Oregon Ballet Theatre, then to The Portland Ballet which fit me like a glove. The training I received there was phenomenal! I was given opportunities as a student to perform like I was a principal in a professional company in a very nurturing environment. For summers, I went away to multiple intensives for dancing with San Francisco Ballet and Miami City Ballet, where I later received a full scholarship to their pre-professional division in their school.

At 18 years old, I was hired with Sacramento Ballet as an apprentice under Ron Cunningham and Carinne Binda who began grooming me for principal roles right away. I was promoted the following season to full company, and I have had the wonderful privilege of dancing numerous principal roles there up until this year.

I’ve had a wonderful career, and I feel so blessed to have the resume I have and all the memories and knowledge I’ve been exposed to in my time there. Now, seeing as I’ve been wanting to grow roots by my family, I decided to move back to Scottsdale, and I have founded Scottsdale City Ballet which will be Scottsdale’s very own, professional, performing company. I think Scottsdale is more than ready for their very own!

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Being a professional ballerina is a dream come true; ballet feeds the soul… Ballet is an art form that you must be very disciplined in, and it defies what our body anatomy should do which makes it all the more ethereal. While there is a foundation of ballet technique that is behind every performer and performance you see, the real beauty (to me) is how the dancer moves in the space with their musicality and their acting abilities. No one likes going to see movies with actors who aren’t any good at acting. For me, personally, that’s the exact same way I feel about ballet. While there are of course many ballet’s with no distinct storyline, I think there’s always an underlying emotion. Whether it comes from the blatant story itself (if there is one,) the movement in which the dancers make with their body as their instrument, and of course the sound of the music. So the more emotion, the better. It’s the dancer’s job to make the audience feel something for the duration of the show. Scottsdale City Ballet will do exactly that, and my main goal for every performance is to have the audience feel a stirring in their soul.

There are so many great things about the ballet world; however, there are many stigma’s I’d love to help break. For instance, in many conversations I have had with people (and I’m sure other dancers can relate) I tend to hear these things a lot:

“So you’re a ballerina? I thought that was only something you could do as a kid.”
Answer: Of course you do it as a kid, we train just like any other sports athlete, Olympians, musicians, etc.!

“So cool you’re a professional ballerina, I saw Lion King on Ice once.”
Answer: Ballerina’s don’t wear ice skates, we wear a special type of ballet shoe called pointe shoes which are made of many layers of satin and glue and are hard so we can stand on our toes. Also, in ballet, there’s never any ice.

“You’re a professional ballerina? Awesome! I’ve seen the movie “Black Swan”… is it like that?”
Answer: In the regard that we wear pointe shoes and rehearse every day and occasionally do “Swan Lake”… then yes. The whole psycho thriller, crazy thing? No.

“Ballerina huh? So you must really watch what you eat?”
Answer: We dance so much and rehearse so hard we actually burn negative calories, it’s an intense everyday workout we endure when rehearsing ballets. I personally love snacking, eating candy, hamburgers, fries… you name it. Of course, we should all care about nutrition and what we put into our bodies, but just because I’m a ballerina doesn’t mean I don’t eat.

There’s also the stigma that dancers go back into hibernation after “The Nutcracker” or “Swan Lake.” Believe it or not, any story can be a ballet, and might already even be one! I’d love for more people to know more about ballet, so it feels less intimidating to a first time audience member and more accessible to everyone!

And last but not least, I’d love to break the stigma that dancers are dispensable. I believe it’s important for a ballet dancer’s to know that if they make one little mistake on stage that they won’t be fired the next day or be made to feel like they can be replaced immediately. Dancers put out so much good into the world with how they inspire all generations; they don’t deserve to be underpaid and feel like they have to apologize all the time. My goal for SCB is to have a full resident company in an environment where they feel they can flourish and love what they do every single day. I want to pay my dancers livable wages, and equal wages at that.

Like I said earlier, ballet really does feed the soul, not only for the dancers but for the audience, too. That’s why I think it’s important for Scottsdale City Ballet to be immersed in its community through education and outreach programs, and to bring the joy of ballet to those who maybe can’t get to a theater, such as hospitals and retirement homes. I also wouldn’t limit the company from more performing opportunities such as dinner theater and random pop-up shows/collaborations with other artists around the city. I don’t think I’ve heard of any other ballet company who will rent out their company for dinner parties and as entertainment… probably because it’s not really following the rule book of the ballet world.

Art and escapism go hand in hand, whether you decide to spend the afternoon seeing a thriller movie, going to a concert to be swept up in the beat and rhythm, or even getting lost in a book at home… the ballet should be there and be accessible too.

What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
As an artist, I define success on how much good a person can bring into the world. As a performer, I want to know lives have been touched and younger generations have been inspired to be the best they can be, no matter what it is they set their mind to. While we all get caught up in the everyday hustle and bustle, it’s so important for humans to experience magic… even if it’s in little glimmers here and there. As a ballerina, I feel accomplished when I’ve moved someone emotionally. Whether it’s the little girl tugging on my tutu who wants to be the next Sugarplum Fairy, or if it’s a woman who just saw her first ballet an was moved to tears just from the music alone. As dancers, knowing we have made an effect on the heart of the audience member, we feel like we’ve done our jobs. Good is magic; magic is ballet.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Scottsdale City Ballet is a non-profit organization. We are in the process of planning a few shows in theaters in Scottsdale and surrounding areas. That means we are looking for sponsors, donors, and underwriters for these upcoming performances! If you’re interested or know someone who is, you can learn more and get in touch on our website: scballet.org!

Contact Info:

• Website: scballet.org
• Phone: 503-803-3182
• Email: scottsdalecityballet@gmail.com
• Instagram: @scballet
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scballet

Image Credit:
Ed Flores Photography

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