Miranda Weese (born ) is an American former ballet dancer, teacher and ballet master. She joined the New York City Ballet in 1993 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1996. In 2007, she left to perform with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, first as a guest artist, then joined the company as a principal dancer, before retiring in 2010. In 2017, she joined the Boston Ballet as a children's ballet master. Early life and training Weese was born in San Bernardino, California. She started living with her maternal grandparents as an infant, and was adopted by them as a child. Weese refers to the couple as her parents. She has Cherokee and Blackfoot ancestry. She was raised primarily in Orange County, but had also lived in La Puente for a few years. Weese started dancing at age five, after a doctor recommended it to help her with knock knees. She later trained with Catherine Joyce while living in La Puente, then with Shery Gilbert upon returning to Orange County, becoming Gilbert's first student. In 1990, at age fifteen, she attended a summer intensive at the School of American Ballet, and was offered a place full-time. Career In 1991, months after Weese started training at the School of American Ballet, she became an apprentice with the New York City Ballet. The following year, she broke her foot, which forced her to stop performing for five months. Following her return, she started watching videotapes of both herself and other dancers to help her progress. In 1993, she joined the corps de ballet. Her first featured role was in Balanchine's Who Cares?. In 1994, she was promoted to soloist, and started to substitute others in principal roles when required, including once in Balanchine's Walpurgisnacht Ballet, after only one rehearsal. In 1995, Weese won the Princess Grace Award. In 1996, shortly before she turned 21, Weese was named principal dancer. She was the first woman to be promoted to this rank in the company since 1991. Her repertory included 25 ballets choreographed by George Balanchine, such as Theme and Variations, Apollo, "Emerald" and "Rubies" from Jewels, Symphony in C, Who Cares?, The Four Temperaments, Ballo della Regina, Symphony in Three Movements, Robert Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze, Divertimento No. 15 and as Sugar Plum Fairy and Dewdrop in The Nutcracker. She had also performed works by Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins and Christopher Wheeldon. For the latter, she