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by Nella Letizia
photography by Robert Hubner
Mia Song Swartwood hovered over the Gladish Auditorium stage on
pointe, adorned in vibrant plumage of gold, teal, and purple, arms
stretched skyward, joyous in flight. Cast in the lead role of
The Sparrow Queen, the May 10 inaugural production of
Pullman's Graham Academy of Contemporary Ballet, Swartwood embodied
the free spirit that ultimately unites two estranged sisters in the
ballet based on a Japanese fairy tale.
Swartwood's own life is something of a fairy tale that began in
South Korea. Left at a local Catholic Children's Services Center in
Inchon the day she was born, Swartwood was adopted a year later by
Jim and Danné Swartwood of Bremerton. Danné, who danced and taught
on and off for 30 years, was the first to teach Swartwood ballet at
age four—and instilled in her a lifelong passion for dance.
"I always loved to dance, even before I learned ballet,"
Swartwood says. "I love to move, I'm very kinetic. Dance is freedom
for me."
By age 14, Swartwood was performing in classical ballets. She
has been featured in Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty,
Don Quixote, and Coppelia, and danced the lead in
Giselle. Home-schooled in junior high and high school, she
graduated with a 4.00 GPA in 2001 from Central Kitsap High School
in Silverdale and transferred to Washington State University after
attending Olympic Community College in Bremerton for one year.
The 21-year-old chose to attend WSU because of music faculty
member Susan Chan. Swartwood, who met Chan when she was 14, is
double-majoring in piano and communication and minoring in
dance.
"Dr. Chan makes such beautiful music," she says. "She knows so
much about piano and music literature. She can pinpoint and tell
you exactly what she wants from the student."
Like the Sparrow Queen she portrayed, Swartwood is vivacious and
giving. For a friend who was feeling down, she wrote a story, which
included lyrics from "Puff the Magic Dragon," Mary Poppins,
and "I Can See Clearly Now."
"It made him smile, which is my whole aim," she says. "My mom
told me a quote, 'Blessed are we who can laugh at ourselves, for we
shall never cease to be amused.' I never stop laughing at myself.
Laughing is contagious. If you get others to laugh, you have the
whole world."
Swartwood has the whole world, too, because of the opportunities
she received from being adopted. Gratefulness is the key to
everything, she says.
"I absolutely adore my family. I couldn't have done what I do
had I not been adopted.
"I'm incredibly grateful," she says. "If I were to find my
biological mother, I would only thank her for thinking of me first
and giving me up instead of keeping me [in South Korea], where to
be an orphan is to stay an orphan. I'm passionate about being
adopted."
Washington State Magazine Home
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“I always loved to dance, even
before I learned ballet. I love to move, I’m very kinetic. Dance is
freedom for me.”
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