Mariclare Miranda
Ballet Mistress

Ballet Mistress Mariclare Miranda – winner of the 1997 South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship - began her ballet training at the age of seven with founding Artistic Director Ann Brodie. In 1976 she joined the Columbia City Ballet, becoming a soloist in 1980, principal dancer in 1982, attaining the ranks of ballerina in 1984 and became prima ballerina in 1997, going on to dance every ballerina role in the Company's classical repertoire. She has portrayed a myriad of roles in Executive & Artistic Director William Starrett's original ballets, including Beauty & the Beast, Dracula, Dracula's Revenge, Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pocahontas, A Tribute to Fred Astaire, Don Juan, Frankenstein and Off the Wall & Onto the Stage. Choreographer Norbert Vesak chose her to dance in his "Belong" pas de deux, a work which won a gold medal for choreography at the 1980 International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. Miranda was recently featured on the cover of three compact discs produced by David Howard and has starred in many television works, notably A Midsummer Night's Dream, Swan Lake, Beauty & the Beast and Romeo & Juliet for SCETV. She is a Founder and Principal Instructor of the Columbia Conservatory of Dance. She retired from the stage in March of 2006, dancing her final performances as the title role in Giselle. At her retirement gala, she was awarded the Key to the City of Columbia and the Order of the Palmetto of the State of South Carolina.