Tamara Rojo


Tamara Rojo CBE is a Spanish ballet dancer. She is English National Ballet's artistic director and a lead principal dancer with the company. She was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet.

Early life and training

Rojo was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Spanish parents who returned with her to Spain when she was 4 months old. At the age of 5 she began dance classes in Madrid and became a full-time student age 11 at Madrid's Royal Professional Conservatory of Dance, Mariemma studying with Víctor Ullate and Karemia Moreno.
Though her parents were pleased at her developing balletic talent, they insisted Rojo also complete an academic education through evening classes she could attend after studio rehearsals. Having graduated from the Conservatory at 16, she completed her secondary studies over the next two years. She went on to complete further degrees including a bachelor of dance, master of scenic arts and a PhD in performing arts, becoming DA magna cum laude in 2016 from King Juan Carlos University.

Career

Rojo began her professional career in 1991 with the Ballet de la Comunidad de Madrid, under the direction of Víctor Ullate. In 1994, she won Gold Medal at the Paris International Dance competition, together with a Special Jury Award from a panel including Natalia Makarova, Galina Samsova and Vladimir Vasiliev, three outstanding figures in the ballet world at that time.

Early career in Britain

In 1996 Galina Samsova, artistic director of Scottish Ballet, invited Rojo to join the company. There she performed principal roles in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, La Sylphide and Cranko's Romeo and Juliet. Derek Deane, then English National Ballet artistic director, asked her to join ENB the following year. For her he created the roles of Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet" and Clara in "The Nutcracker" for which The Times named Rojo "Dance Revelation of the Year" in 1997. She also danced principal roles in Swan Lake, Paquita, Coppelia and Glen Tetley's The Sphinx.

Royal Ballet

Rojo approached Royal Ballet director Anthony Dowell in 2000 with a view to joining the company, and was invited to become a principal dancer when a contract became available later in the year. Over the next 12 years, she performed major roles in most of the company's repertoire including ballets choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan and Frederick Ashton, Dowell's Swan Lake, Makarova's La Bayadere, Rudolph Nureyev's Don Quixote, and Peter Wright 's The Nutcracker. She danced in the world premiere of Snow White, created for her by choreographer Ricardo Cué. The title role in Isadora was recreated for her by MacMillan's widow, the artist and set designer Deborah MacMillan, custodian of the late choreographer's ballets.

Major injuries

In 2000, Rojo was asked at short notice to replace the injured Royal Ballet principal Darcey Bussell in the title role in Giselle. Ignoring her own sprained ankle, Rojo learned the role in a fortnight and went on to receive rave reviews. In 2002, while dancing Clara in Nutcracker, Rojo began to tremble on stage. Sent to a private hospital after the performance, she learned her appendix had burst and was told to take six weeks off. However, she resumed dancing dancing after only two, relapsed and returned to hospital. Rojo admitted some years later it was "completely wrong and I do not feel that anyone should do this. It really is not worth it."
In 2003, while preparing for the Royal Ballet's Australian tour, Rojo suffered an infected bunion so serious that her foot swelled to the size of a tennis ball. Doctors recommended surgery on her foot, a potentially career-ending operation. Months later, after countless hours of rehabilitation, she resumed dancing and said the injury changed her perspective on life, her body and dance. She felt that she valued each and every day more and learned that nothing in life should be taken for granted.
After this experience, she and her father developed a device to stretch pointe shoes in order to reduce pressure on bunions, and formed a company in 2017 to market it.

English National Ballet


In April 2012 it was announced that Rojo would become the artistic director of English National Ballet, replacing Wayne Eagling, whose departure from the role had been announced in February.
Under her direction the English National Ballet, for the first time in history, was invited to dance from 21 to 25 June 2016 at the Paris Opera Palais Garnier, the most famous ballets in its repertoire: Marius Petipa and Konstantin Sergeyev's version of Le Corsaire in a revival by Anna-Marie Holmes.
In 2014, she presented a documentary entitled Good Swan, Bad Swan: Dancing Swan Lake for the BBC and she followed up with Giselle: Belle of the Ballet in 2017, which included the history of the both the original production and the new ballet created for the ENB by Akram Khan. She had commissioned Khan to re-imagine the story: Khan went on to win the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards 2017 for Best Classical Choreography and Alina Cojocaru won Outstanding Female Performance as Giselle, and the company as a whole won an Olivier Award for Outstanding achievement in dance.
Rojo is set to make her choreographic debut with a Florence Nightingale-inspired version of Raymonda, set during the Crimean War. It is scheduled to premiere in January 2021.

Repertoire

The following is a list of repertoire of Rojo's performance in various ballet companies.
RoleChoreographerCompany
Les SylphidesMichel FokineB.Com.Madrid, Royal Ballet
Clara Wayne EaglingEnglish National Ballet
Ondine Frederick AshtonRoyal Ballet
Theme and VariationsGeorge BalanchineB.Com.Madrid-Ullate, Royal Ballet
Allegro BrillanteGeorge BalanchineB.Com.Madrid-Ullate
Grossa FugaHans Van ManenB.Com.Madrid-Ullate
In the FutureGlen TetleyB.Com.Madrid-Ullate
ArraigoVictor UllateB.Com.Madrid-Ullate
SimumVictor UllateB.Com.Madrid-Ullate
Three Cornered HatLéonide/MassineBal.Opera de Nice
Le Beau DanubeLéonide MassineBal.Opera de Nice
Rite of SpringKenneth MacMillanEnglish National Ballet, Royal Ballet
Clara Derek DeaneEnglish National Ballet
PaquitaMarius PetipaEnglish National Ballet
Juliet Derek DeaneEnglish National Ballet
Cinderella Ben StevensonEnglish National Ballet
Three PreludesHans Van ManenEnglish National Ballet
Nascita di OrfeoLuca VeggettiE. P. Arena de Verona
Odette/Odile Deane / Makarova / M.Mason / NureyevKirov Ballet
BlancanievesRicardo CuéTeatro Arriaga
Odette/Odile Marius Petipa / Lev IvanovEnglish National Ballet, Scottish Ballet
Consolations & LiebestraumChristopher BruceROH2
Tatiana John CrankoRoyal Ballet
Cinderella Frederic AshtonRoyal Ballet
Marguerite Frederick AshtonRoyal Ballet
Juliet Kenneth MacMillanRoyal Ballet
IsadoraKenneth MacMillanRoyal Ballet
Mary Vetsera Kenneth MacMillanRoyal Ballet
Manon Kenneth MacMillanRoyal Ballet
Song of the EarthKenneth MacMillanRoyal Ballet
RequiemKenneth MacMillanRoyal Ballet
Winter DreamsKenneth MacMillanRoyal Ballet
My Brother, My SistersKenneth MacMillanRoyal Ballet
Symphony in CGeorge BalanchineRoyal Ballet
JewelsGeorge BalanchineRoyal Ballet
TziganeBalanchineRoyal Ballet
Dances at a GatheringJerome RobbinsRoyal Ballet
RushesWayne McGregorRoyal Ballet
ChromaWayne McGregorRoyal Ballet
Kitri Vladimir VasilievTokyo Ballet
Sugar Plum Fairy Peter WrightRoyal Ballet
Juliet John CrankoScottish Ballet
La SylphideBournonville/Sorella Englund / J.Covalli / J.PerrotScottish Ballet, Royal Ballet
Giselle PetipaRoyal Ballet, Ullate, B.N.Cuba
Kitri M. Petipa / R. NureyevRoyal Ballet, Ballet alla Scala
Aurora M. Petipa / WrightBirmingham Royal Ballet
Medora A-M Holmes after M. Petipa and SergeyevEnglish National Ballet
Frida Kahlo Annabelle Lopez OchoaEnglish National Ballet
DustAkram KhanEnglish National Ballet

Awards

Rojo lives in Bloomsbury, London.