Virginia Stockner
Bristol Ballet announces that Senior Company member Virginia Stockner, 16, is the 2022-2023 recipient of the Teresangela Schiano Memorial Scholarship.
Virginia is a homeschool student who also takes classes at Virginia Highlands Community College.She has been dancing since she was 3 years old, when Bristol Ballet was still in the studio above Blackbird Bakery. She loves participating in all the wonderful opportunities Bristol Ballet offers to the dancers. Her first role with Bristol Ballet was a butterfly in the 2010 spring performance, and she has performed in such shows as Mulan, Wizard of Oz, and Alice in Wonderland with the ballet.Some of her favorite roles with Bristol Ballet include Russian, Snow, Marzipan, and Party Girl in the Nutcracker.
Upon receiving the award, Virginia said: “I’m very excited and honored to receive the award! To me, ballet is a way to express myself through movement. I’m happy to continue to dance and receive this honor.”She credits all of her teachers at Bristol Ballet as influences, and she is inspired by watching the older dancers throughout the years as well.
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 2022-2023 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 on 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.
