PVB Stories

Madison (Maddi) Baptiste’s first experience with Pioneer Valley Ballet was auditioning for The Little Mermaid in 2007. She was a dancer at another studio since she was three years old; but after [...]

My name is Julia Slaughter, and I’m a high school senior in the advanced division at PVB. I have been dancing for eight years, five of which have been with PVB.  I joined PVB in the fall of 2015 [...]

My name is Olivia Rudd and I am 18 years old. I am in the advanced level at Pioneer Valley Ballet and have been dancing here since I was 11 years old. After only 1 year of ballet, I decided to [...]

I first came to PVB because my sister’s best friend, Isabel Darmon-Weiss, was dancing Snow in The Nutcracker one year and I was so inspired by her. I knew then that I had to dance. I came to the [...]

My name is Grace Downey, and I am a high school senior in the Advanced division at Pioneer Valley Ballet. PVB has always been a familiar place for me. My mother danced with PVB for most of her [...]

Emily DiBartolo is a longtime student and one of our 2019 Seniors. Here is her PVB Story, in her own words: My name is Emily DiBartolo, I am 17 years old, and I am advanced student with Pioneer [...]

Ariana Clark is a one of the Pioneer Valley Ballet Seniors this year.  She joined PVB in 2008 at one of the community auditions for The Little Mermaid, and she has been in every performance since [...]

Jennifer Basile has been involved with Pioneer Valley Ballet for 16 years.  She is a past parent, former board member and president, and current volunteer and committee member.  She came to PVB [...]

Noah McAuslin started dancing with Pioneer Valley Ballet when he was eight years old. His first onstage role was as an owl in Beauty and the Beast. Through that experience he discovered he really [...]

Henry joined Pioneer Valley Ballet when he was 11 years old.  He discovered PVB when one of the other boys in his carpool was doing Nutcracker and participating in the all-boys class. When he was [...]