Mira Nadon, GRoW Fellow, Becomes New York City Ballet's First Asian American Female Principal Dancer

In pursuing her dreams on the stage, 21-year-old Mira Nadon has just pirouetted into history. Her promotion to principal dancer represents a milestone for the nearly 75-year-old New York City Ballet (NYCB). 

Nadon began ballet lessons at age six while living in Montclair, California. In 2015, she became a full-time student at the School of American Ballet (SAB), where GRoW has been funding annual scholarships since 2010. In 2016, GRoW supported SAB's Diversity Initiative by establishing the GRoW Fellowship Endowment, which provides scholarship funds to students from underserved neighborhoods in the Los Angeles County, and Nadon was the first dancer chosen as a Fellow for the 2016-2017 year. She joined NYCB as a member of the corps de ballet in 2018, and The New York Times named her one of the 2019's breakout stars for her stellar performance in "Rubies" from George Balanchine's three-act ballet Jewels. 

Now she's relishing her role as the Company's first Asian American female principal dancer (and only the fifth Asian American principal dancer in NYCB's history). "It does feel like a kind of new era in the Company," she said to CBS News. "It's a big honor and something to grow into."