Party with a Prince!

Hostess Alexis Phelps & Stanko Milov

Earlier this week, I attended a lovely party hosted by Alexis Phelps at her home, to "Party with a Prince".  In this case, the "Prince" was Stanko Milov, who is a principal male dancer for Pacific Northwest Ballet and has multiple talents as a music composer, a concert pianist, dance choreographer, teacher, and visual artist.

Stanko grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria, where his chosen profession as a male ballet dancer, is a revered profession open to only the most talented classical dancers.  He began his classical dance and piano training at age eleven at the State Choreographic School in Sofia, where he graduated with honors before coming to the United States.  He was a principal dancer with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre where he was the recipient of a 1997 Princess Grace Foundation Dance Fellowship Award.  He joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a Principal dancer in 1999. 

Stanko is bigger than life, both physically at around 6'6" tall, and in personality.  I have heard several of the female ballet dancers say that he is their favorite dance partner, because of his height and strength and that they feel so safe when he does lifts with them.



Stanko Milov & Cathi Hatch

 Alexis invited many of her PNB Board of Trustees and STARS friends to join her in the opportunity to spend time appreciating Stanko's talents. When we first arrived, we were greeted by Stanko and one of his paintings was conspicuously displayed just inside the entrance.  Alexis made sure that her guests were all very well taken care of with glasses of champagne and delicious nibbles.  Alexis is a hostess who gets every detail right!  From her festive tabletop to the colorful collars on the champagne bottles to the homemade potstickers, it was a beautiful event and so much fun to see so many friends including Sherry Raisbeck, Pat Wallace, Sarah Rindlaub, Betty Tong, Cindy Lee, Suzy Krabbe, Laura Peterson, Leslie Chihuly and a host of others.  

Pat Wallace, Alecis Phelps, Cathi Hatch

When we departed, we were invited to take with us a CD of Stanko's piano solos, entitled Heartfelt which he has dedicated to his family and friends with this, ". . . I would like to thank my family in Bulgaria who taught me to believe in my dreams, and all of my friends who believed that this could be possible."

Suzy Krabbe & Stnko Milov

I know that I along with many others look forward to watching Stanko continue to grow and develop his artistic passions!