Sleeping Beauty

Derek Drilon grew up in Vancouver, Washington. He began his training at Northwest Classical Ballet (NCB) under the direction of his mother, Maricar Drilon in 2009. During his years at NCB, he performed numerous principal roles in several full-length ballets and contemporary works including international performances in countries such as China, Canada, France, Mexico, and the Philippines.

Derek joined Boston Ballet under the direction of Mikko Nissinen and associate direction of Peter Stark in 2016. He performed several works by George Balanchine, Marius Petipa, August Bournonville, John Cranko, Mikko Nissinen, Ivan Liška, Jorma Elo, Christopher Wheeldon, and William Forsythe. In 2018, he joined The Joffrey Ballet where he is currently a company artist.

In 2016, he was the Grand Prix winner of the Youth America Grand Prix semi-final in Chicago, IL. After moving on to the final round in New York, he was the only male candidate representing the U.S. to place among the top six Senior Men. Derek was also a competitor in the 2018 XI USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS. In 2019, he appeared as a Guest Principal Dancer with Ballet Philippines for their 50th anniversary season where he performed the role of Albrecht in Giselle. This will be his eighth production as a Guest Artist for Long Beach Ballet

Megan Wilcox began studying at the Long Beach Ballet Academy at age five. She has performed roles such as Clara, Snow Queen, and Dewdrop in The Nutcracker, Jasmine in Aladdin, and Swanilda in Coppelia. She was awarded First Place in the classical & contemporary divisions of the Youth America Grand Prix competition in Los Angeles and competed at the YAGP New York Finals for five years. She was accepted to compete at Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland and the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson.

She joined the SemperOper Ballett in Dresden, Germany in 2014. After performing in Europe, she returned to the U.S. and joined California Ballet in San Diego where she was featured in roles such as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella and the main role of M. Willbanks in Nefarious. Megan dances with the contemporary company, Barak Ballet in Los Angeles under the direction of Melissa Barak. Megan taught ballet at the California Ballet School and is currently a faculty member and coach at Long Beach Ballet Academy.