Tamara Rojo CBE
Rojo asRaymonda,Festival de Granada, 2014
Born	(1974-05-17)17 May 1974 (age 51) Montreal,Quebec, Canada
Alma mater	Rey Juan Carlos University
Occupations	Ballet dancer, director and choreographer
Title	Artistic director,San Francisco Ballet
Spouse	Isaac Hernández
Children	1
Tamara Rojo's voice from the BBC programme Front Row, 23 April 2013[1]
Website	www.tamara-rojo.com

Tamara RojoCBE (born 17 May 1974) is a Spanishballet dancer. She was theEnglish National Ballet'sartistic director and a leadprincipal dancer with the company between 2012 and 2022. She was previously a principal dancer withThe Royal Ballet. She became the artistic director ofSan Francisco Ballet in late 2022.

Rojo was born inMontreal,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'sRoyal Professional Conservatory of Dance,Mariemma studying withVíctor Ullate andKaremia Moreno.^{[citation needed]}

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 DAmagna cum laude in 2016 fromKing Juan Carlos University.^[2][3][4]

Rojo began her professional career in 1991 with the Ballet de la Comunidad de Madrid, under the direction of Víctor Ullate. In 1994, she was awarded a gold medal at the Paris International Dance competition, together with a Special Jury Award from a panel includingNatalia Makarova,Galina Samsova andVladimir Vasiliev, three outstanding figures in the ballet world at that time.^[5]

In 1996 Galina Samsova, artistic director ofScottish Ballet, invited Rojo to join the company. There she performed principal roles inSwan Lake,The Nutcracker,La Sylphide and Cranko'sRomeo and Juliet.Derek Deane, thenEnglish 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 whichThe 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.^[6]

Rojo approachedRoyal Ballet directorAnthony 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.^{[citation needed]} Over the next 12 years, she performed major roles in most of the company's repertoire including ballets choreographed byKenneth MacMillan andFrederick Ashton, Dowell's Swan Lake, Makarova'sLa Bayadere,Rudolph Nureyev'sDon Quixote, andPeter Wright 'sThe Nutcracker. She danced in the world premiere ofSnow White, created for her by choreographer Ricardo Cué. The title role inIsadora was recreated for her by MacMillan's widow, the artist and set designer Deborah MacMillan, custodian of the late choreographer's ballets.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000, Rojo was asked at short notice to replace the injured Royal Ballet principalDarcey Bussell in the title role inGiselle. Ignoring her own sprained ankle, Rojo learned the role in a fortnight and went on to receive rave reviews.^[7] In 2002, while dancing Clara inNutcracker, 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 after only two, relapsed and returned to hospital. Rojo admitted some years later it was "completely wrong [to continue dancing while injured or ill] and I do not feel that anyone should do this. It really is not worth it."^[8]

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.^[9]

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.^[10]

In 2012, Rojo became the artistic director of English National Ballet, replacingWayne Eagling.^[11]

Under her direction, the English National Ballet, for the first time in history, was invited to dance at the Paris OperaPalais Garnier. Appearing from 21 to 25 June 2016, ENB performed one of the most famous ballets in its repertoire: the Petipa and Sergeyev version ofLe Corsaire in a revival byAnna-Marie Holmes.^[12]

In 2014, she presented a documentary entitledGood Swan, Bad Swan: Dancing Swan Lake for theBBC.^[13] She followed up withGiselle: Belle of the Ballet in 2017, which included the history of both the original production and the new ballet created for the ENB byAkram Khan.^[14] She had commissioned Khan to re-imagine the story: Khan won the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards 2017 for Best Classical Choreography,Alina Cojocaru won Outstanding Female Performance (Classical) as Giselle,^[15] and the company as a whole won anOlivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.^[16]

Rojo made her choreographic debut with aFlorence Nightingale-inspired version ofRaymonda, set during theCrimean War. It premiered in January 2022 at theLondon Coliseum.^[17]

In January 2022, it was announced that Rojo will become the artistic director ofSan Francisco Ballet at the end of the year, succeedingHelgi Tómasson.^[18] Upon taking the position, she became the first woman to serve as artistic director of the company.^[19]

The following is a list of repertoire of Rojo's performance in various ballet companies.

• Honoured by the South Bank Sky Arts Outstanding Achievement Award 2022, for her ten transformational years as artistic director of the English National Ballet.
• Gold Medal of the Academy of Performing Arts of Spain 2021.
• 2016 Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to ballet.^[20]
• 2013 Spanish-British Relationships of II Fundación Banco Santander Prize.
• 2012 The Gold Medal for Fine Arts 2012 of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
• 2011 Encomienda de número de Isabel la Católica.
• 2010 Laurence Olivier "Best New Dance Production" award for her collaboration with choreographer Kim Brandstrup in "Goldberg: The Brandstrup-Rojo Project."^[21]
• 2008Prix Benois de la Danse
• 2008 Comunidad de Madrid's International Medal of the Arts
• 2007 City of Madrid's Interpretation Award
• 2005Premio Principe de Asturias a las Artes
• 2004 Premio Positano "Leonid Massine"
• 2002 Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes – Consejo de Ministros del Reino de España.
• 2002 Gold Medal of Fine Arts from King Juan Carlos
• 2002 London's Critic's Circle Dance Awards
• 2001 Sherringtons Awards Best Female Dancer of the Year
• 2000 Barclays Theatre Awards: Outstanding Achievement in Dance
• 1996 First prize of Italian Critics as Best Dancer of the Year
• 1994 Grand Prix Femme et Medaille Vermeille de la Ville de Paris (à l'unanimité) – Concours International de Danse de Paris

Rojo lives inBloomsbury, London.^[22][23] Her husband is ballet dancerIsaac Hernández.^[18][24] The couple have a son, born in 2021.^[25]

• Official website
• Artistic Director of English National BalletArchived 5 March 2022 at theWayback Machine
• Royal Ballet Biography, Royal Opera House, London
• IMDB Profile
• Ballet interview, May 1998
• Cupcakes & Conversation with Tamara Rojo.Ballet News. 31 July 2009.
• The Woman Who Has Transformed English National BalletNew York Times interview 18 November 2016.

• 1974 births
• Living people
• Spanish ballerinas
• Entertainers from Montreal
• Prima ballerinas
• Dancers of the Scottish Ballet
• Principal dancers of The Royal Ballet
• English National Ballet principal dancers
• English National Ballet
• National Dance Award winners
• Prix Benois de la Danse winners
• Canadian people of Spanish descent
• Spanish expatriates in the United Kingdom
• Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
• 21st-century Spanish ballet dancers
• King Juan Carlos University alumni

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