ELIZABETH WALLACE
Corps member, Pennsylvania Ballet
It’s hard to miss Elizabeth Wallace. Tall and rangy,
the 24-year-old Kentucky native takes special
ownership of her roles no matter the size, her
lines extending well beyond her 5' 9" frame. With
silken sophistication and a soaring arabesque, she
draws you in with a natural, open presence, her
long limbs swallowing space as if air itself were a
precious luxury.
Wallace’s Balanchine background is unmistakable in her dancing—she ;nished her training at
the School of American Ballet and danced as an
apprentice with New York City Ballet before joining Pennsylvania Ballet in 2012. Artistic director
Angel Corella has made signi;cant changes to
the roster since his appointment in 2014, but he
obviously sees something special in Wallace. She’s
danced a steady and wide-ranging stream of leading roles since his arrival, including Christopher
Wheeldon’s Liturgy, Wayne McGregor’s Chroma,
Choleric in Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments
and Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote. One of
a handful of corps dancers still left from the old
regime, her future under Corella looks bright.
—Amy Brandt
KAYLA COLLYMORE
Dancer, METdance
Movement seems elastic under Kayla Collymore’s
spell. Nothing appears forced or pushed; she
makes dancing look like something that just rolls
off the tongue. All lightness and limbs, Collymore
apprenticed with the Stephen Petronio Company,
danced with Brian Brooks Moving Company and
spent a year performing in Beijing before heading
to Texas.;Now in her second season at Houston’s METdance, the Jersey-girl-turned-Texan
is settling into the demands of dancing with a
rep company. “I tend to excel in the wet-noodle
;ow pieces, so I love that at the MET I get to do
all kinds of work, including Camille A. Brown’s
earthy;New Second Line,” says Collymore, who
relished the chance to dig into works by Rosie
Herrera, Joshua L. Peugh and;Katarzyna Skarpe-towska this past year.;“I’m also ready to take on
a leadership role in the company,” she says. “I’ve
learned that for a company to be successful we
have to network, promote and warmly welcome
the numerous renowned choreographers that walk
in our doors.” —Nancy Wozny
25
Wallace with
Aaron Anker in
Balanchine’s
The Four
Temperaments
Collymore with
Seth McPhail
in Peugh’s
The Clean-Cut American
Stage Show
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