Midland Festival Ballet

Unity Phelan was born in Princeton, New Jersey and began her dance training at the age of five at the Princeton Ballet School, where her teachers included Douglas Martin, Maria Youskevitch, and Mary Barton. 

During the summers of 2008 and 2009, Ms. Phelan attended the summer sessions at the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet, and enrolled as a full-time student in fall of 2009. 

She became an apprentice with NYCB in December 2012 and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in November 2013. 

In February 2017, Ms. Phelan was promoted to the rank of soloist, and in October 2021, she was promoted to principal dancer. 

Born in Joinville, Brazil, Mr. Furlan started dancing at the age of 11 at The Bolshoi Theater School in Brazil. 

In 2010 he participated in the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, and was offered a full scholarship to attend the Miami City Ballet School by Edward Villella. 

Mr. Furlan began his training at the MCB School in 2011 and joined Miami City Ballet in 2012. He was promoted to soloist in 2015 and was named an MCB principal dancer in 2017. 

At MCB, his repertory of featured roles included George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Ballet Imperial, Episodes, Jewels, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, Serenade, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Square Dance, Swan Lake, Symphony in Three Movements, Theme and Variations, and La Valse; Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, West Side Story Suite, and The Concert; as well as works by Richard Alston, John Cranko, Peter Martins, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, Liam Scarlett, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, and Christopher Wheeldon. 
 
Mr. Furlan joined NYCB as a soloist in August 2019 and in February 2022 he was promoted to principal dancer. 

Since joining Ballet San Antonio in 2014, Sofie Bertolini has enjoyed an incredibly diverse range of roles. Some of her favorites include Juliet in Edward Liang’s Romeo and Juliet, Carmen and Giselle in their namesakes, and Lucy in Dracula. She has also had the pleasure of performing featured roles in George Balanchine’s Rubies, Ben Stevenson’s Swan Lake, Bruce Wells’ Beauty and the Beast, and Dominic Walsh’s The Whistling.

Hailing from Austin, TX, Bertolini began her training at age four at Austin Dance Academy under Arletta Howard-Logan and later Ballet Austin under Bill Piner and Lynne Short, with additional training at Boston Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. After becoming a Trainee with Ballet Austin under Michelle Martin and Stephen Mills in 2009, Bertolini’s professional career continued with smaller workshop-oriented companies also based in Austin, TX, where she was able to explore her interest in choreography as well as performing featured roles in both classical and non-classical works. 

Rivard Report’s Tami Kegley writes, “Special kudos go to Sofie Bertolini for her sass and vinegar. She not only performed [The Whistling] immaculately, she brought it alive with toughness and humor that was sublime.”

Born in Boston, Patric began his dance training at the age of 4 at his mother's jazz studio. He was introduced to ballet through a scholarship to train with the Municipal theater Ballet School in Santiago, Chile. After which he trained with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet Chicago, and Orlando Ballet.  

Palkens has performed with numerous companies over his sixteen-year career. Including Orlando ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, the Washington Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and spent five years as a soloist with Boston Ballet.  

Over the years Palkens has performed many works by choreographers from around the globe including, George Balanchine, Fredrick Ashton, Miko Nissinen, Wayne Mcgregor, Jerome Robbins, William Forsythe, Val Caniparoli, Devon Carney, Alejandro Cerrudo, Ma Cong, Adam Hougland, James Kudelka, Victoria Morgan, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Septime Webre. 

 In his time with Ballet San Antonio, Michael Agudelo has performed such roles as Cavalier in The Nutcracker, Albrecht in Giselle, Basilio in Don Quixote, Siegfried in Swan Lake, The Prince in Cinderella, Bluebird in Sleeping Beauty, and especially enjoyed performing as Escamillo in Yosvani Cortellan’s Carmen and Mercutio in Edwaard Liang’s Romeo and Juliet.

Previously, Agudelo performed such roles as Cavalier in The “Manhattan” Nutcracker, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Prince Charmant in The Sleeping Beauty with Minnesota Ballet.

The Duluth News Tribune wrote of Michael’s “sharply articulated performance,” “[Best are] those moments at the apex of his jumps when he freezes for a split second before descending back to earth.”

He began at Ballet Spartanburg under Carlos Agudelo and Lona Gomez and continued with Harid Conservatory and Varna Gold Medalist Stanislav Issaev at South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts. He went on to win second place in the Youth America Grand Prix Regionals and compete as a finalist in New York

In his spare time, he makes videos for his YouTube channel “Mikestarwalker” with over 100,000 subscribers.

Zach began dancing at 13 focusing on Hip Hop and Jazz at the Danscompany of Gainesville and would later start Ballet at the age of 16. Once he received his Associate of Arts degree, he joined the Margaret Barbieri Conservatory at The Sarasota Ballet on a scholarship after attending their summer intensive. From there, he joined and completed his school training at The Sarasota Cuban Ballet School under Ariel Serrano and Wilmian Hernandez. He then joined Milwaukee Ballet as a member of their second company where he performed with the company. He then joined Ballet San Antonio in 2019. He has performed works by choreographers such as Michael Pink, Timothy O’Donnell, Bruce Wells, George Balanchine, Edwaard Liang, Patrick Armand, Robert Barnett, and Brian Enos.

His repertoire includes ballets such as The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Dracula, Coppelia, Serenade, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Performance highlights include Arabian Coffee and Snow King in BSA’s The Nutcracker, Espada in Armand’s Don Quixote, Rustics in Well’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and March Hare in Enos’ Alice in Wonderland.

Aidan Carrasquel is a native San Antonian. He began his dance training at Ballet San Antonio under the direction of Maryra Worthen, the founder of Ballet San Antonio. Aidan was a National Training Scholarship recipient from American Ballet Theatre and is now a two-time Jacob’s Pillow Alumni, under the tutelage of Anna-Marie Holmes. He was the first student to premiere his original choreography on the Inside Out Stage at Jacob’s Pillow. Following his Inside Out stage debut, he received a scholarship to The Rock School for Dance Education under the direction of Bo and Stephanie Spassoff. While at The Rock, he competed at YAGP winning first place in multiple categories.After graduation from The Rock, Aidan received the Rory Schwartz Scholarship from the Washington School of Ballet under the direction of Kee Juan Han. He competed again in YAGP while training in DC and again won first place in multiple categories. At the Washington School of Ballet, Aidan performed in the world premiere of “ICONS”, at the Italian Embassy, choreographed by Mimmo Miccolis.  

While dancing at Ballet San Antonio, Carrasquel has performed a wide range of roles. From his earliest appearance years ago as the mischievous brother Fritz in The Nutcracker through the Peasant Pas de Duet from Giselle, to the demanding Lead Couple of George Balanchine’s Rubies, to the romantic Prince Desire from Swan Lake and the swashbuckling Mercutio from Edwaard Liang’s Romeo and Juliet.