Josie Stockner
Bristol Ballet announces that senior company member Josie Stockner, 17, of Abingdon, Virginia, is the 2025-2026 recipient of the Teresangela Schiano Memorial Scholarship. Stockneris a senior at John S. Battle High School. She has been dancing at Bristol Ballet since she was 3 years old, and has been in the senior performing company for several seasons. Some of her favorite roles include Clara in the "Nutcracker," the Cheshire Cat in "Alice in Wonderland," Moth in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream"and the Fairy of Vitality in "The Sleeping Beauty."
Stockner loves everything about dancing. She says, “It would be impossible for me to choose just one thing about ballet that interests me. I love everything about ballet from the classes to the performances.” She also loves the acting element of ballet, saying that building her own interpretation of each character is one of her favorite parts about performing. She credits her teachers at Bristol Ballet as her biggest influences.
Upon receiving the award, she said, “I'm incredibly grateful to be the 2025-2026 recipient of this important scholarship. Ballet means friends, commitment, and hard work to me, and I am honored to receive a scholarship in memory of another committed Bristol Ballet dancer.”
In addition to ballet, Stockner plays the trumpet in the John S. Battle High School Band and participates in the youth group at Fellowship Chapel. After graduation, sheplans to get her doctorate in physical therapy and focus on dance medicine. She also hopes to continue dancing through college, working with local ballet companies while attending Liberty University. After college, she plans to focus on injury prevention for dancers and possibly start her own physical therapy practice.
The Teresangela Schiano Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to dancers at the intermediate/advanced level of ballet who are also part of Bristol Ballet’s performing company. The chosen dancer must be active in performing and exhibit skill and dedication to excellence. He or she must possess a desire to progress and grow within the art form; aspirations to dance professionally are not a requirement. The scholarship will provide for all fees for the 2025-2026 season. This includes tuition, registration, production fees, and summer intensive tuition.
The fund is capitalized by donations from private individuals or corporations who wish to perpetuate the art of ballet through Teresangela’s memory. Teresangela Schiano’s untimely death at age 33 March 8, 2014 shocked and saddened an entire community of friends and family. It was their wish to keep her memory alive and perpetuate the vibrancy that she had on stage, as well as her love for ballet, by establishing the Teresangela Schiano Memorial Scholarship Fund at Bristol Ballet.
