\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up with boys,\u201d Chloe Misseldine said.<\/p>\n
What has being the middle child with two brothers<\/a> given this striking American Ballet Theater soloist? Not glamour; she was born with that. But a crucial quality for any young ballerina: thick skin.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing really bothers me,\u201d Misseldine said. \u201cI\u2019m not offended easily. If somebody says something to me, I\u2019ll brush it off.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet over the past week or so, since she made her debut as Tatiana in the ballet \u201cOnegin,\u201d Misseldine has noticed some unusual internal shifts. Tears have flowed. She brought up the word \u201csensitive\u201d to describe how she\u2019s been feeling, but it\u2019s not quite right. Maybe vulnerable? \u201cI don\u2019t know how to explain it,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I just have more emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n Tatiana was big<\/a> \u2014 Misseldine\u2019s first dramatic lead in a full-length ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House, where the company presents its summer season. On Wednesday afternoon, she takes on Odette-Odile in \u201cSwan Lake\u201d after a triumphant debut in the dual role at the Kennedy Center in Washington in January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Word got out. After that performance, the former Ballet Theater star Nina Ananiashvili asked Misseldine to perform as a guest artist with her company, the State Ballet of Georgia<\/a>, at the London Coliseum later this summer. \u201cShe is a rising star,\u201d Susan Jaffe, Ballet Theater\u2019s artistic director, said. \u201cNot just in A.B.T., but in the dance world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A lissome 5 feet 9 inches \u2014 and over 6 feet on pointe \u2014 Misseldine, at just 22, has a distinctive otherworldly magnetism<\/a>. It was apparent the moment she joined A.B.T. Studio Company in 2018. A year later she became an apprentice at Ballet Theater and a member of its corps de ballet in 2021. She was promoted to soloist in 2022.<\/p>\n Her ascent, by Ballet Theater standards, has felt meteoric, but Jaffe \u2014 who\u2019s been in the job 18 months \u2014 seems to be more proactive when it comes to new talent. She was only 19 when she first danced \u201cSwan Lake.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI come from that era that started them young,\u201d she said. \u201cStart them young because then they have all this time to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, they need to be ready emotionally, too. \u201cChloe is totally grounded,\u201d Jaffe said. \u201cEverything that comes to her, she just takes it with absolute solidity and grace, and works hard and isn\u2019t freaked out.\u201d<\/p>\n Odette-Odile, for all of its dramatic and technical requirements, could easily lead to freak-out moments, but it lands in a zone where Misseldine is comfortable: classical ballet. She looks like a swan, too. Her flexible back gives her a gorgeous arabesque; it also accentuates the wingspan of her port de bras. To prepare, Jaffe coached her for several months.<\/p>\n \u201cI was definitely nervous,\u201d Misseldine said of her \u201cSwan Lake\u201d experience in Washington, but less than she had expected to be. \u201cAll the building up \u2014 I was ready.\u201d<\/p>\n The actual performance felt like a dream. \u201cIt went by so fast,\u201d Misseldine said. \u201cAll of a sudden, the second act was done. All of a sudden, I was quick-changing into Act IV. And then, all of a sudden, people were taking photos of me backstage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In \u201cOnegin,\u201d Tatiana, who transforms from an unsophisticated country girl into an elegant woman, poses a different set of challenges: \u201cI\u2019m growing up a little bit through roles like this,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m only 22. I haven\u2019t lived much of my life. I\u2019ve just really been focused on A.B.T. and my work and ballet. So doing this really has opened me up.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The ballet by John Cranko, based on Pushkin\u2019s verse novel, is a plunge into full-scale drama especially for Tatiana who at the start is rejected by Onegin. When she refuses to take back a love letter she has written to him, he rips it up. But by the end, it is Tatiana \u2014 now married to another \u2014 who does the rejecting and the ripping of a letter, Onegin\u2019s proclamation of love and regret.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was just completely different \u2014 this related to life,\u201d Misseldine said. \u201cHer being a young girl and just fawning over this older guy. I mean, that\u2019s so natural for a young girl to do and to write a love letter. I wouldn\u2019t say him ripping it up in front of her is normal. I feel like people don\u2019t do that. Hopefully not?\u201d<\/p>\n In her debut, after Misseldine tore the letter with an urgent mix of exasperation and sadness, the audience applauded. This doesn’t usually happen. Still, she said later, she wasn\u2019t satisfied. There were props that distracted her; it was a matinee, and she felt rushed. There were partnering mishaps.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Yet Misseldine was riveting. While the role is usually reserved for more mature dancers, Misseldine\u2019s age mattered less than her instinct. She has imagination, depth of feeling. If \u201cOnegin\u201d left her a little raw, she knows that\u2019s not a bad thing. \u201cI\u2019m still figuring out my ways,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m still learning as I\u2019m going.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When it comes to her acting, she wants to avoid appearing over the top: \u201cNothing too dramatic, but I still want to have the drama of the ballet,\u201d she said. \u201cNothing fake.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n As a dancer, Misseldine knows who she is now, but she wasn\u2019t a natural from the start. Born in Orlando, Fla., she is the daughter of Yan Chen, a former Ballet Theater soloist<\/a>, who was born in China and trained at the Shanghai Dance School, and a businessman father. Misseldine began taking dance classes around the age of 3 or 4 at Orlando Ballet School, where Chen taught. (She is now is a principal teacher for the A.B.T. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School preprofessional division and the rehearsal director of A.B.T. Studio Company.)<\/p>\n Her earliest training was more of an after-school program than anything else. Did Chen see signs of what Misseldine would become? \u201cNo!\u201d Chen said in an interview, laughing.<\/p>\n She recognized that her daughter had good proportions, but she lacked strength. \u201cShe was a little bit more,\u201d Chen said, \u201chow would I say? Very soggy. She was just hanging.\u201d<\/p>\n But when Misseldine was around 13 or 14, she decided she wanted to participate in ballet competitions. Musicality and coordination aside, Chen felt her daughter needed to work harder. She told her, \u201cThere\u2019s no way I\u2019m going to let you onstage,\u201d Chen said. \u201cI\u2019m the professional! When you go onstage you have to have a certain level of the technique. So I started helping her.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n She still does when Misseldine needs it. But Chen is neither a stage mother nor a ballet teacher who sugarcoats. \u201cOf course, encouragement is very important,\u201d Chen said, \u201cbut there\u2019s a certain point you need to hear what you need to work on and sometimes give a little push.\u201d<\/p>\n They had their conflicts, but it was more bickering, Misseldine said, than anything else. Out of irritation, she would pretend, for instance, not to perform steps correctly. \u201cBut then, as I got older, I started realizing, Oh, what she\u2019s doing is really trying to help me,\u201d Misseldine said. \u201cI started trusting her.\u201d<\/p>\n And Misseldine grew up with another secret weapon: the water. \u201cActually, when I was young, before I did ballet \u2014 this is probably very vital \u2014 I grew up on a lake,\u201d she said. \u201cI grew up doing water sports: skiing, wakeboarding<\/a>, tubing. I feel that\u2019s where my balance comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n Her father, driving the boat, would pull her so that the tube was, \u201clike 10 feet in the air!,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Her sunny mix of authenticity and fearlessness had to come from somewhere. \u201cMy younger brother and I never used to wear life jackets. We had a high dock and we\u2019d jump off it into the water. We were 5, 6, 7 years old. That\u2019s where I get my personality from \u2014 living with my brothers, growing up with boys \u2014 but then also doing ballet.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n