University of Utah Highlights Retired Ballet West First Soloist: Alex MacFarlan

3L Alex McFarlin grew up in Tennessee and trained in a professional ballet school there. At 18, he auditioned for Ballet West in New York City and earned a spot in their secondary company in Utah, working his way up from there before retiring as a first soloist in 2021.

“Before law school, I performed professionally with Ballet West for 14 years. I loved my time there,” McFarlin recalls. “I performed many dramatic roles in my time with the company, including Romeo, Hamlet, Vladimir Lensky in Eugene Onegin, and Sharpless from Madame Butterfly. One thing I miss from my prior career is reading the literature to prepare for the roles.”

Since a career in ballet is generally short, however, McFarlin began looking for his next career and says law fascinated him most.

“I listened to Supreme Court oral arguments all the time. I used to download them from Oyez and listen to them wherever I’d go. I was hooked,” he says. “I found great oralists enchanting—Paul Clement, Elizabeth Prelogar, Lisa Blatt—and I hoped that a career in law was the right fit for me.”

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