Miquel Jose “M.J.” Maldonado Chapman Jr. may only be 13 years old, but he has already been promoted thrice in the Phoenix Ballet’s annual production of “The Nutcracker,” starting with a small role as a mouse at the age of 9, and rising through the ranks to play a party boy, then Fritz and now the coveted role of Nutcracker Prince.
“I just loved dancing,” M.J. said. “And then I wanted to find something new and here I am doing ballet.”
In previous years, the Phoenix Ballet has paired with the Sedona Chamber Ballet to present “The Nutcracker” in Sedona. It was supposed to be livestreamed from Scottsdale this weekend, but due to a COVID-19 case, the ballet troupe has tentatively rescheduled it for January.
M.J.’s grandparents, Mor Beautiful Melodies’ jazz performers Theresa Tweston-Morris and Solomon Morris, have homes in both Sedona and Scottsdale. As Christmas time grows closer each year and M.J.’s rehearsals go from five days a week to seven, M.J. and his grandparents find themselves spending more and more time down south.
“Back in the day, when I was younger and still at Big Park [Community School], we would leave at 12 p.m., come down here and then drive back,” M.J. recalled of the nearly four-hour daily commute before the family got their second home.
Despite the long hours dedicated to dance, M.J. said he has always had a group of good friends to hang out with.
“I like to show off,” he laughed. “Bust a move here and there.”
For the most part, M.J.’s non-dancing peers have been “really awesome” and “positive” about his dancing, but a few have made tween-like jabs about him being a male ballerina.
“ I just let it slide,” he said.
As a child, M.J. became fascinated with a dancer with his same initials.
“I was obsessed with Michael Jackson,” he said.
After mimicking the King of Pop’s famous Moonwalk and toe stands at the age of 7, Tweston- Morris decided to enroll M.J. in tap and ballet classes at Cottonwood Recreation Center. That same year, he auditioned for the “The Nutcracker” for the first time.
“That was just fate,” Tweston-Morris said. “I just happened to look in the newspaper and I saw auditions.”
In 2016, after M.J. debuted as the mouse, he began taking classes at Master Ballet Academy in Scottsdale.
“Once M.J. showed proficiency in technique, and a desire, I knew that the other thing that was going to be necessary would be to put him in a place that would teach him very good technique — which is what Master Ballet does — but to also keep intact his self-confidence as a male dancer,” Tweston- Morris said, noting that the academy is run by a family of primarily male dancers.
Later in 2016, M.J. performed an original piece choreographed by Sedona’s Achmed Valk during the local Peace Day celebration.
After more winters of “The Nutcracker” and summers of dancing intensives, M.J. landed more roles, including Sneezy in Master Ballet Academy’s version of “Snow White” in 2018.
After “The Nutcracker,” M.J. will be competing at the Phoenix Youth American Grand Prix in January, hoping to make it to nationals in New York in spring. He will be presenting an original contemporary piece by choreographers Rasta Thomas and Albert Blaise Cattafi, and ballet variations from “Don Quixote” and “Swan Lake.”
Right now, M.J. says jumping is his favorite part of ballet. As he grows older, he knows that he will be expected to rely more and more on the strength training exercises that he has started.
“I’m strong, but I’m not that strong,” he said after vehemently denying having lifted any female ballerinas overhead yet.
That will be, of course, if M.J. chooses to continue ballet. Though he’s been dancing nearly half his life, he doesn’t know that he wants to do it as a career.
“I don’t want to be a professional ballet dancer; I just want to dance,” he said. “I do other dance. I really love hip hop.”
And dancing is just one of M.J.’s multitude of hobbies.
“I love basketball, soccer, I like ice skating and I love mountain biking. I love hiking,” he said. “I love swimming. I love indoor skydiving.”
Tweston-Morris laughs when asked if she will be disappointed if her grandson doesn’t continue dancing professionally.
“No, he’s 13, you know, so how could he know? And people do ask that question,” she said. “Regardless if he becomes a ballet dancer or not, he’s getting amazing technique and disciple and this is going to give him a leg up when he finally decides what he wants to do.”
Check sedonachamberballet.org for more on M.J. and the livestream link to “The Nutcracker” when it becomes available.
