HELENA — Professional ballerina Margaret “Maggie” Whyte got her start in Helena Queen City Ballet at just three years old. Now, she finds herself overseas, in Munich, Germany, living out her dream of being a professional ballerina at one of Europe’s most renowned companies, Bayerisches Staatsballett.
“Miss Campbell, the director of Queen City Ballet, found me when I was quite young and thought, 'Oh, she can take this further.' I can push her to become something if she wants that. And at some time, around 10 to 12, I started doing large ballet competitions, Youth America Grand Prix. And I was winning scholarships and positions in summer programs. And that's I think, when it started to click for me that I could actually do this in the future. And then I realized how much I loved ballet. And from then on, I just couldn't think of a life without ballet,” Whyte said.
Whyte spent nearly every day at Queen City Ballet until she was 18 years old. Then, she was awarded a scholarship to Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Utah, for two years before sending her audition tape to Munich.
“They invited me to come audition. And after a one-and-a-half hour ballet class, they said we would like to hire you for the following season. Can you start Sept. 1, we really like who you are, we think you'd be a great asset to our company. So for me, I think it was a lot of the right place, right time, a lot of hard work and determination to get there,” she said.
Whyte loves basically every aspect of her job as a professional ballerina.
“I just love being on stage for me. I also love rehearsing in the studio. I like the process of starting somewhere and seeing how it goes until the stage. But there is something that just comes alive inside of me when I get to perform that. It's not like any feeling you can describe,” she said.
Now, she’s back in Helena with her boyfriend, who also dances for Bayerisches Staatsballett. While in town, they’re spending some time teaching at QBC.
“It's very special to me to come back and have this community here and still have Miss Campbell and Miss Gil to support me,” Whyte said.
Whyte is looking forward to spending her next season on a few new works, but also classics such as Cinderella and La Bayadère.
