José Manuel Carreño

José Manuel Carreño (born May 25, 1968 in Havana, Cuba) is a retired Cuban ballet dancer, who performed as a principal dancer with the English National Ballet, Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.

Carreño started dancing at the age of ten and received his training at the Provincial School of Ballet and the Cuban National Ballet School. He won the Gold Medal at the New York International Ballet Competition in 1987 and the Grand Prix at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi in 1990. He has appeared extensively in Europe, Latin America and the United States, dancing such roles as Franz in Coppélia, Basilio in Don Quixote, Albrecht in Giselle and Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake. He has also performed in the principal roles in such works as Le Corsaire, the Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux and the Black Swan Pas de Deux.[1]

He has been principal dancer in the English National Ballet in 1990, the Royal Ballet in 1993 and the American Ballet Theater starting in 1995.

In 2004 Carreño received the Dance Magazine Award for significant contributions to dance. He lives in New York City with his wife Ana Lourdes Novoa (a former Cuban National Ballet dancer) his new stepson, Jesse, and his two daughters, Alessandra and Carmen.

On June 30, 2011 he gave his final performance with the ABT in New York City at The Metropolitian Opera House in Swan Lake featuring Julie Kent and Gillian Murphy as Odille and Odette. Carreno was joined on stage by other members of the company including Marcelo Gomes, Maxim Beloserkovsky and Cory Stearns who hoisted him overhead.

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