Sonia Welker

Sonia Welker was born in Columbus and began dancing at BalletMet Dance Academy at age 5. A graduate of BalletMet’s Pre-Professional Program, she also studied at Boston Ballet and San Francisco Ballet schools. Now in her fifteenth season with BalletMet, Ms. Welker is a 2001 recipient of the Violetta Boft Memorial Award, a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and an Arts and Letters Awardee. Additionally, she has performed as a guest artist with the National Ballet of Zimbabwe and taught at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan’s Manistee National Forest. She and her husband, fellow dancer Jimmy Orrante, have a young son, Isaac.