​Maricar Drilon - Founding Artistic Director

Maricar Drilon was born in the Philippines and received her early training from her mother, Mercedes L. Drilon. She continued her training with Ballet Philippines (formerly CCP Dance Company), under the direction of Alice Reyes. She joined the company in 1979 and was promoted to Principal Dancer at the age 18, performing principal roles such as Juliet in Alice Reyes’ choreography of Romeo and Juliet, Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Raymonda, Swan Lake, The Voyages of Odysseus, Don Quixote, among others. She performed internationally with Ballet Philippines in Russia, Greece, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as Ballet Philippines’ National Tour.

​​She attended University of the Philippines majoring in Theater Arts while pursing her dance career with Ballet Philippines.

In 1984, she joined Ballet West under the direction of Bruce Marks and was promoted to first soloist. She has performed soloist roles in Mr. Christensen’s The Nutcracker, Andre Prokovsky’s Vespri, The Sleeping Beauty, to mention a few.

She moved to Eugene, Oregon in 1987 and joined Eugene Ballet , as a principal dancer, under the direction of Toni Pimble. She danced principal roles in The Nutcracker, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bolero, Silent Movie, Children of the Raven, and Petrushka. She then moved to Long Beach, California and joined L A Classical Ballet as a soloist, under the direction of David Wilcox, and performed soloist roles in The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Unicorn, Coppelia, Harlequinade, Aymara, and Ravelesque.

Moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, she joined Nevada Ballet Theatre (formerly Nevada Dance Theater), as a principal dancer, under the direction of Vasili Sulich.

​​​She returned to the Pacific Northwest in 1993 and joined Oregon Ballet Theatre, under the direction of James Canfield and performed the principal role of Clara in the world premiere of Mr. Canfield’s The Nutcracker, Bebe Miller’s A Certain Depth of Heart...Also Love, Carole Armitage’s Poised At the Edge of Chaos. She stayed with Oregon Ballet Theatre till the birth of her son, Derek.

During her time with Oregon Ballet Theatre, she pursued teaching Pilates and is a certified Pilates Instructor as well as a certified Gyrotonic Instructor. She recently certified in Progressing Ballet Technique as well.

She founded her school, Northwest Classical Ballet (formerly Washington State Ballet), in 2000, and has been Artistic Director since then. She has choreographed and set numerous full length ballets including The Nutcracker, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Cinderella, Swan Lake, Paquita, La Bayadere, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, to name a few.

​​In the year 2014, she took a group of dancers to perform in Ballet Philippines’ 45th Anniversary Gala. In the summer of 2015, she returned to the Philippines with another group of dancers as featured artists in the first international C-Map Festival.

She is the founding Artistic Director of Northwest Classical Ballet and a permanent faculty at Long Beach Ballet’s Summer Intensive program, under the direction of David Wilcox.

Ms. Drilon recently accepted a position as the Principal Teacher of The Ballet West Academy at Thanksgiving Point in Utah. She will be back to visit and advise remaining as the Founding Artistic Director of NCB. 

Ms. Drilon is pleased to leave NCB in the wonderful hands of Andrea Thompson, our new Artistic Director.