Angel Corella

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Angel Corella bigraphy, stories - ballet dancer

Angel Corella : biography

8 November 1975 –

Ángel Corella (born 8 November 1975) is a Spanish dancer, currently the Artistic Director and principal dancer of Barcelona Ballet (formerly Corella Ballet, Castilla Y León) as well as former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. He has been honored with the prestigious Prix Benois de la Danse award for his performance of Jerome Robbins’ Other Dances with ballerina Julie Kent and has also been bestowed the National Award of Spain.

Early career

Born and raised in Madrid, Corella trained with Karemia Moreno and Víctor Ullate and began winning dance awards at a young age, including the First Prize in the National Ballet Competition of Spain in 1991 and three years later, the Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the Concours International de Danse de Paris.

When the world-renowned, Russian ballerina Natalia Makarova, saw the young Corella in competition, she contacted the artistic director of American Ballet Theatre and recommended that he be auditioned for the company. He was accepted into ABT as a soloist in April 1995 and was promoted the following year (August 1996) to the rank of principal dancer.

Foundation

  • La Fundación Ángel Corella

"The Angel Corella Foundation was formed in 2001 to promote classical dance in Spain and to offer the opportunity for the finest professional training to all dancers, regardless of their economic or social condition".

At this stage of his career, Corella has created this ambitious educational, artistic and cultural project consisting of a Residence School for Dancers and a Ballet Company – Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon, both sited in the Palace of Santa Cecilia at the Royal Location of La Granja de San Ildefonso in Segovia, Spain.

The repertoire of the Ballet Academy and Corella Ballet will include classical, neoclassic and contemporary works.

This high-profile project in Spain is already attracting a great deal of international interest.

Barcelona Ballet

In April 2008, Corella established the first classical ballet company in Spain in 20 years, the Corella Ballet, Castilla y Leon; in February 2012, it moved to Barcelona and became the Barcelona Ballet.

The company had its world premiere in La Granja, Segovia, Spain on 11 July 2008 performing a mixed program of Clark Tippet’s Bruch Violin Concerto, Stanton Welch’s Clear and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room. Its first full-length ballet was La Bayadère (staging by Natalia Makarova) on 4 September 2008 at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain.

Barcelona Ballet has since gone on to expand its repertoire and gain a great following across both Spain and the rest of the world. They are a touring company performing in many theatres across Spain, including Teatro Real, Madrid and the Liceu, Barcelona. They have performed internationally at the New York City Center in March 2010 as well as at the Los Angeles Music Center and Santa Barbara, California. They have toured cities such as New Orleans, Seattle, Charleston, the Spoleto Festival and the Gudalajara book festival, Mexico in November 2010.

Their repertoire includes Swan Lake, suites from Le Corsaire and The Sleeping Beauty, George Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux and Apollo pas de deux, Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain pas de deux, María Pagés’ SOLEÁ pas de deux, and the pas de deuxs from Diana and Actaeon, Don Quixote and Satanella; Balanchine’s Who Cares?, Jerome Robbins’s Fancy Free, Wheeldon’s DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse and VIII, Welch’s We got it good, Russell Ducker’s Epimitheus, Vasiliov and Kasatkina’s Sunny Duet, Leonid Lavrovsky’s Walpurgisnacht, Corella, Ducker & Radev’s Suspended in Time and Corella’s String Sextet.

The company currently consists of 26 dancers; principals and guest artists include Alina Cojocaru, Angel Corella, Carmen Corella, Paloma Herrera, Nehemiah Kish, Sarah Lane (dancer), Gillian Murphy and Dayron Vera.