Midland Festival Ballet

Marko Micov was born in Skopje, North Macedonia. He began his ballet education under the direction of Sonja Zdravkova-Dzeparovska, PhD, at the State Ballet School in Skopje. He was awarded the Special Prize in 2010 at the International Ballet Competition, Mia Corak Slavenski, and a full scholarship for the summer program of Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Vis, Croatia. In 2011, Micov danced as a guest artist with Croatia Ballet in a co-production with the Madrid Ballet on an international tour in South America with Pascal Touzeau’s The Nutcracker. In 2012, he was invited by the legendary Gelsey Kirkland to join her company, where his performances were noticed by major publications, including The New York Times, Huffington Post, Ballet Focus, and more.  

In 2016, Micov joined Ballet San Antonio, where he was promoted to Soloist in 2018. He was featured in a variety of principal roles with the company, including in Frederik Franklin’s Tribute, Bruce Wells’ Beauty and the Beast, Yosvanis Cortellan’s Carmen, and Willy Shives’ The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, and The Sleeping Beauty. He performed as the Principal Male in Ballet San Antonio’s premiere of George Balanchine’s Rubies staged by Nilas Martin, and danced in Gerald Arpino’s Round of Angels. In 2018, he wrote the Macedonian message for International Dance Day organized by International Theatre Institute-UNESCO. In 2019, he received the national award, Menada, for Young Artist of the Year.  

Since joining Milwaukee Ballet in 2019, he has performed as Karl and Fritz in The Nutcracker, a featured role in Garrett Glassman’s I Do, Don’t I?, and the title role in Michael Pink’s Peter Pan. He also was part of Michael Pink’s world premiere of Classical Symphony and Mauro de Candia’s Purple Fools.  

In 2021, Micov received the United Macedonian Diaspora 40 under 40 Award. 

Marize Fumero was born in Havana, Cuba and trained at the National Ballet School of Cuba. Upon graduation in 2009, she entered Ballet Nacional de Cuba, where her many roles included Queen of the Willis in Giselle, Swanhilda in Coppélia, Nikiya in La Bayadère, and Queen of the Dryads, and Kitri’s Friend in Don Quixote. She also danced the Pas de Trois from Swan Lake.  

In 2012, Fumero joined the English National Ballet, where she danced as Aurora’s Friend and performed a Jewels Variation in Kenneth MacMillan’s The Sleeping Beauty. She was also one of the three Odalisques in Le Corsaire, staged by Anna-Marie Holmes. Additionally, she appeared in Jií Kylián’s Petite Mort and George Williamson’s Firebird, as well as Derek Deane’s Swan Lake (Pas de Quatre) and Romeo & Juliet at Royal Albert Hall.  

Fumero joined Milwaukee Ballet in 2014 and was promoted to Leading Artist in 2015. She has been featured as Musetta in Michael Pink’s La Bohème, Claudia in Mirror Mirror, Odile in Swan Lake, and Esmeralda in Hunchback of Notre Dame. She also performed principal roles in Pink's Dracula, Giselle, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, and Dorian Gray. In addition, she danced the principal roles of the Queen of Hearts in Septime Webre’s ALICE (in wonderland) and the title character in Kathryn Posin’s Scheherazade.  

Fumero is a principal guest artist with Hispanic Classical Ballet, where she has performed in Le Corsaire, Giselle, Don Quixote, and Romeo & Juliet. She has also appeared as a guest artist with Georgia Ballet, where she danced as Swanhilda in Coppélia and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker.   

She frequently performs in ballet festivals around the world, including dancing variations from Swan Lake at Italy’s Ravello Festival, Carmen at the International Ballet Festival of Miami, and Le Corsaire and a pas de deux from Michael Pink’s La Bohème at the International Ballet Festival in Cuba. She was also invited to dance with the Salzburger Landestheater Ballet in Austria.  

Fumero received a Miami Life Award nomination as Best Female Classical Dancer in 2017. 

Aidan Carrasquel is a native San Antonian. He began his dance training at Ballet San Antonio under the direction of Maryra Worthen, the founder of Ballet San Antonio. Aidan was a National Training Scholarship recipient from American Ballet Theatre and is now a two-time Jacob’s Pillow Alumni, under the tutelage of Anna-Marie Holmes. He was the first student to premiere his original choreography on the Inside Out Stage at Jacob’s Pillow. Following his Inside Out stage debut, he received a scholarship to The Rock School for Dance Education under the direction of Bo and Stephanie Spassoff. While at The Rock, he competed at YAGP winning first place in multiple categories.After graduation from The Rock, Aidan received the Rory Schwartz Scholarship from the Washington School of Ballet under the direction of Kee Juan Han. He competed again in YAGP while training in DC and again won first place in multiple categories. At the Washington School of Ballet, Aidan performed in the world premiere of “ICONS”, at the Italian Embassy, choreographed by Mimmo Miccolis.  

While dancing at Ballet San Antonio, Carrasquel has performed a wide range of roles. From his earliest appearance years ago as the mischievous brother Fritz in The Nutcracker through the Peasant Pas de Duet from Giselle, to the demanding Lead Couple of George Balanchine’s Rubies, to the romantic Prince Desire from Swan Lake and the swashbuckling Mercutio from Edwaard Liang’s Romeo and Juliet. 

 In his time with Ballet San Antonio, Michael Agudelo has performed such roles as Cavalier in The Nutcracker, Albrecht in Giselle, Basilio in Don Quixote, Siegfried in Swan Lake, The Prince in Cinderella, Bluebird in Sleeping Beauty, and especially enjoyed performing as Escamillo in Yosvani Cortellan’s Carmen and Mercutio in Edwaard Liang’s Romeo and Juliet.

Previously, Agudelo performed such roles as Cavalier in The “Manhattan” Nutcracker, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Prince Charmant in The Sleeping Beauty with Minnesota Ballet.

The Duluth News Tribune wrote of Michael’s “sharply articulated performance,” “[Best are] those moments at the apex of his jumps when he freezes for a split second before descending back to earth.”

He began at Ballet Spartanburg under Carlos Agudelo and Lona Gomez and continued with Harid Conservatory and Varna Gold Medalist Stanislav Issaev at South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts. He went on to win second place in the Youth America Grand Prix Regionals and compete as a finalist in New York

In his spare time, he makes videos for his YouTube channel “Mikestarwalker” with over 100,000 subscribers.