Ángel Corella (born November 8, 1975) is a Spanish dancer, currently the Artistic Director and principal dancer of Corella Ballet Castilla Y León as well as 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.
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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.
Ángel Corella has performed as a guest artist with such companies as The Royal Ballet in London, the La Scala Ballet in Milan, the New York City Ballet, the Australian Ballet, the Ballet of Tokyo, the Asami Maki Ballet, Ballet Contemporaneo de Caracas, and the National Ballet of Chile. In March 2008, Corella made his debut with the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, dancing the role of Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake.
Corella has also performed in numerous festivals, galas, and special performances around the world, including The Kings of the Dance which premiered, in February 2006, at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA, immediately followed by an East Coast premiere at City Center. He performed alongside dancers Gudrun Bojesen of The Royal Danish Ballet; Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg of the Royal Ballet, London; Ethan Stiefel of ABT; and Nikolay Tsiskaridze of the Bolshoi Ballet. In 2007, Kings of the Dance toured to Russia with performances in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Perm, Russia. The next year, Angel Corella was the sole returning original cast member to perform it at the Mariinsky Festival. Prior to 2008, he toured Spain extensively with his own company Ángel Corella & Stars of the American Ballet. He is now Artistic Director of Corella Ballet.
In recent years, Corella has danced for Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the President of the United States. He has performed all of the classics (see extensive listing below), and has received critical acclaim for his technique, musicality, and for his sensitive, dramatic interpretations of roles in ballets by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, specifically Romeo and Juliet and more recently, Manon.
He has had the opportunity to partner many well-known ballerinas including Alessandra Ferri, Xiomara Reyes, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, Diana Vishneva, Alina Cojocaru, Nina Ananiashvili, Paloma Herrera, Irina Dvorovenko, Viktoria Tereshkina, Alina Somova, Evgenia Obraztsova, Alexandra Ansanelli, Michele Wiles, Stella Abrera and Letizia Giuliani, among others.
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"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.
In April 2008, Corella established the first classical ballet company in Spain in 20 years — Corella Ballet, Castilla y León.
This new company had its world premiere in La Granja, Segovia, Spain on July 11, 2008 performing a mixed program of Bruch Violin Concerto, Clear and In the Upper Room. Its first full-length ballet was La Bayadere (staging by Natalia Makarova) on September 4, 2008 at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain.
Corella 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 and have performed internationally at the New York City Center in March 2010 and the Los Angeles Music Center and Santa Barbara, California as well as the Gudalajara book festival, Mexico in November 2010.
The Corella Ballet will perform at New York City Center again in April 2012.
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The company currently consists of 28 dancers chosen from over a thousand applicants coming from eight countries: Spain, Cuba, Ecuador, Ireland, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and USA.
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