Melissa Chapski | Soloist

Joined OBT in 2024 | Soloist

Melissa Chapski was born in Medfield, Massachusetts. In 2015, she graduated from the Ellison Ballet Professional Training Program in New York City under the mentorship of Erin Forrest and Edward Ellison. That same year, she was awarded a gold medal at Indianapolis International Ballet Competition and YAGP’s Boston semi-final, as well as a contract to the Dutch National Ballet’s junior company at YAGP Finals. Chapski danced in Europe for nine years with two leading ballet companies: the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam and the Bayerisches Staatsballett (Bavarian State Ballet) in Munich.

Chapski’s noteworthy repertoire includes the Sugar Plum Fairy in Balanchine and Petipa’s versions of The Nutcracker, the title role in Vaganova’s La Gioconda, Coppelia’s Friends in Roland Petit’s Coppelia, Zulma in Giselle, the Pas de Cinq in David Dawson’s Giselle, Snow Queen and Dew Drop in The Nutcracker, and Cygnets in Swan Lake. Chapski’s favorite performance memory is Trois Gnossiennes, a famous duet by legendary Dutch choreographer Hans van Manen. Chapski was coached on the piece by Hans during her time in Amsterdam. Melissa also really enjoys work by George Balanchine and loved dancing Emeralds, Rubies, and Diamonds in Jewels, the demi-soloists in Symphony in Three Movements, and Ballet Imperial. Chapski’s expansive gala repertoire includes several classical pas de deuxs including Don Quixote pas de deux and Le Corsaire pas de deux. She has also danced Embers, a neoclassical duet choreographed by Dutch National’s Ernst Meisner, in dozens of international galas since her premiere in 2015.

Chapski was also featured as Emma in the movie High Strung: Free Dance and has done numerous advertisement campaigns internationally for brands like Huawei, Nikon, Discount Dance Supply, Capezio, Russian Pointe, Hotel Bergeblick, and Cartier. She was recently part of a world premiere dance production for Cartier’s high jewelry event by choreographer Ilya Jivoy. Chapski was also featured in a short dance film called Lake of Dreams which won over 60 awards at international film festivals around Europe. She is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree at Harvard University’s Extension School in social sciences and would like to achieve her masters upon graduation.