Meet Michael Agudelo, Ballet Dancer and Part-Time Jedi
Onstage, Ballet San Antonio principal Michael Agudelo battles the Rat King in The Nutcracker, mourns his lost love as Albrecht in Giselle, and suffers a mortal sword wound as Mercutio in Edwaard Liang’s Romeo and Juliet.
Online, as MikeStarWalker, he reviews lightsabers, teaches saber choreography, and produces highly detailed fan films complete with special effects. His YouTube channel has grown to 179,000 subscribers.
Agudelo was introduced to both ballet and Star Wars by his parents. Ballet was a family affair, since both his parents were dancers. They also showed him the first Star Wars film at age 4, figuring a young boy would enjoy it. From then on, he was hooked on both.
His ballet training began at Ballet Spartanburg in South Carolina under the guidance of his father, Carlos Agudelo, and artistic director Lona Gomez. Later he attended the HARID Conservatory and South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts. After graduating, he joined Joffrey as a trainee and danced with Milwaukee Ballet II and Minnesota Ballet before joining Ballet San Antonio in 2016. He was promoted to first soloist in 2021 and principal in 2023.
Shortly after moving to San Antonio, Agudelo attended a Comic-Con and saw a group performing lightsaber choreography on a stage. He was immediately intrigued. “I was like, That is so cool. How can I be a part of this?” he says.
The group was Saber Guild, a nonprofit group of Star Wars fans who dress in costumes and perform lightsaber fights while raising money for charity. Agudelo introduced himself to Jedi masters Heather and Paul Trupia, who were leading the group at Comic-Con. He soon joined them weekly to learn lightsaber combat. “For a dancer, it’s easier to pick up,” he says. “At first, it’s like, Whoa, I’m not used to this aim. But then once you get that down, it’s choreography. And I learn choreography all the time.”
As he gained proficiency, Agudelo started re-creating entire sequences of fight choreography from the movies. He started posting them on Instagram, and as they got longer and more complex, he shifted to YouTube.
When the pandemic shut down ballet performances in 2020, Agudelo started devoting more energy to his channel. “We had a lot of time, so decided to hit a video a week,” Agudelo says. As his video archive grew, so did his number of YouTube subscribers. Now he has expanded his content to include reviews of lightsabers designed for combat; tutorials on different fighting styles; and fan films for which he writes, choreographs, and performs.
His girlfriend, fellow Ballet San Antonio principal Sofie Bertolini, serves as director and videographer. He also works closely with a friend of his from Saber Guild, Mike Mahoney. The casts are rounded out by friends from Saber Guild and other Ballet San Antonio dancers. Agudelo also does much of the editing and special effects himself, with feedback from Bertolini. He learned video editing through practice, starting when he had to combine clips of his own dancing for audition materials.
From start to finish, a fan film takes Agudelo and his crew about two months to produce. This includes writing the script, choreographing and rehearsing the fight sequences, filming, editing, and adding special effects in postproduction. Agudelo portrays famous roles, like Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Anakin Skywalker.
Agudelo’s experience has proved useful in the ballet studio. When the company staged Edwaard Liang’s Romeo and Juliet, Agudelo shadowed fight choreographer J. Steven White. He is now the unofficial “sword guy” of the company, helping to stage and rehearse fight choreography for shows like The Nutcracker and Peter Pan, and serving as fight captain for the productions.
“Since doing [my videos], I’ve had a lot more understanding of what the directors and ballet masters are doing in the studio,” Agudelo says. “It’s hard to get people organized and still have a good time.”
The videos have also turned into a side hustle for Agudelo. Some of what he earns through the channel gets reinvested in the form of upgraded technology. For his next project, Agudelo says he wants to create a “Disney-level” set.
If it weren’t for Mahoney and Bertolini, Agudelo says, his channel wouldn’t be the success it is today. “There’s been a lot of blood, sweat, and tears,” he acknowledges. “Not literal tears, but definitely some blood and bruises.”
