Redwood City Youth Joins Boston Ballet

REDWOOD CITY, CA — Ballerinas know they've hit the big time when Boston hits the resume.

Just ask 17-year-old Louise Hautefeuille, a San Francisco Peninsula native from Redwood City who attended Woodside High School before moving to this historic East Coast city who joined the Boston Ballet School to be groomed under its trainee program.

The teen, who now takes online high school classes as a senior this year, danced at the Menlo Park Academy of Dance from age 4 to 15 before jetting off to one of the finest arts and cultural venues in the United States. She most recently was offered a position in the Corps de ballet at age 17, which skips two years as an apprentice with the second tier of the Boston Ballet.

"It's always been a far away goal," she told Patch, adding it helps to have family support. Her parents, sister and brother also moved out to Boston to accompany her pursuits.

"I said to myself: 'Ok, so this can really happen,'" she said of one of those "pinch me" moments every youth who fulfills her dreams has. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

When she began dancing as a little more than a toddler at Menlo Park Academy of Dance, she studied under the Royal Academy of Dance curriculum. She attended summer programs at Master Ballet Academy, L'Ecole de Danse de l'Opera de Paris and the Boston Ballet School — both with scholarships.

After receiving first place at the San Francisco Youth American Grand Prix in 2017, she was invited to join Boston Ballet School as a trainee. At Boston Ballet School, the teenager was awarded the Pao Scholarship in 2018. She has performed alongside the company in Sir Frederick Ashton's "Cinderella," George Balanchine's "Coppelia," August Bournonville's "La Sylphide," John Cranko's "Romeo and Juliet," Mikko Nissinen's "The Nutcracker" and Marius Petipa's "Sleeping Beauty." She also performed in Boston Ballet School's Next Generation program, a maneuver she said opened her eyes to creative, new techniques in modern ballet such as the progressive style of "balanchine."

She joined the Boston Ballet as an artist in 2019.

Her Menlo Park Academy instructor Sarah Jane Measor said she always knew that in the 11 years she worked with the youngster she was destined for a great future in ballet.

"Louise is a natural talent. She's got the physique and beautiful feet. She took to it right away," Measor told Patch. "What she has accomplished is a big deal."

As for the perception of ballet as a glamorous life, Measor placed that notion into its proper perspective.

"It takes a lot of hard work, and Louise demonstrated that. You do have to look after your body," she said.

The longtime ballet instructor emphasized the craft is much like other athletics like football. In other words, you can't do it forever.

"I have no doubt Louise that even after her ballet career would be successful in something else. She's delightful inside and out," she said.

Measor witnessed firsthand the journey her young protege is on. In 2017, she went to Boston to see the teen make the quintessential ballet performance of the "Nutcracker."