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Petra dancing the Spanish Lead in O-Jak Bridge Dance & Art Festival 2023, Non-Traditional Swan Lake

Student Spotlight, April 2024

Petra Videriksen

Petra Videriksen is a beloved friend and student at Adage Ballet Academy. Her passion and devotion towards her dance, music, and academics is impressive. Petra is a senior at Mercer Island High School, a valuable member of her school’s marching band, and a dedicated ballet student.

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Petra with her first ballet teacher,

"Mr. Chris" Christopher Charles McDaniel, at Los Angeles Ballet School.

Petra's Story

Since a very young age, ballet has provided Petra with many opportunities to learn and grow. She began her ballet journey over ten years ago at Los Angeles Ballet School, before moving to the Seattle area and continuing her training at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Since joining Adage Ballet Academy in her junior year of high school, Petra has immersed herself in the teachings of ballet technique, language, theory, and culture, striving for fluency in the art form, which she has always viewed as a special  language, one that connects her to teachers, classmates, and dancers across the world.

 

During her time here at Adage Ballet Academy, Petra has participated in various performance opportunities, which have been some of the highlights of her training experience. Her love for performing extends beyond the local stages and ballet academy showcases, to the fields of schools, where she has participated in the Mercer Island schools band program since the fifth grade. Since joining the marching band in high school, Petra has participated in the Spokane Lilac Torchlight Parade and at the halftime show at the regular season home opener for the Seattle Seahawks in 2021. This year, in her senior year at Mercer Island High School, the marching band was one of six high school marching bands selected to perform in New York at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, where Petra was a trumpet section leader. The Mercer Island High School Marching Band has provided Petra with countless opportunities to develop leadership and performance skills.

Petra posing in front of the PNB sign outside of the Phelp's Center in

Seattle, WA.

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Petra's Future

While balancing her school, band, and ballet proves to be quite difficult at times, Petra continues to devote herself fully to all aspects of her life. Once she graduates high school, Petra plans to attend Loyola Marymount University and major in business administration to prepare for a career as a marketing coordinator in the architecture industry.

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While ballet is not the immediate focus of her plans for the future, Petra has devoted herself to her training, and plans to always bring her love for and knowledge of dance with her wherever she may end up in life. She’s beyond grateful for not only the influence Abby Jayne, Guillaume, her classmates, and the academy have had on her training but also the impact they’ve had in her life, and she is delighted to be completing her ballet training here in June, stating,

 

“I wouldn’t want my eleven year journey with ballet to end anywhere else but here, at the school I love, with the people I love.”

This edition of the Student Spotlight blog was written and edited by Cleome Hufstader, an ABA Primary Advanced Dancer.

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