THE ROYAL BALLET ANNOUNCES LEAVERS AND JOINERS FOR THE 2018/19 SEASON

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1 JULY 2018 THE ROYAL BALLET ANNOUNCES LEAVERS AND JOINERS FOR THE 2018/19 SEASON Today, The Royal Ballet announces leavers and joiners for the 2018/19 season. As previously announced, Cesar Corrales joins The Royal Ballet as First Soloist. Former Royal Ballet School student Joseph Aumeer also joins the Company as an Artist. For the 2018/19 Season The Royal Ballet welcomes seven dancers to the Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme: Harris Bell, Harrison Lee, Taisuke Nakao, Katherina Nikelski, Amelia Townsend and Hang Yu from The Royal Ballet School and Lania Atkins from the Dutch National Ballet Academy. Amelia Palmiero continues as an Aud Jebsen Young Dancer. Davide Loricchio joins as the Prix de Lausanne dancer for the 2018/19 Season. Soloist Fernando Montaño will take leave of absence during the 2018/19 Season to undertake various projects and First Artist Leticia Stock will also take leave of absence during the 2018/19 Season to dance with the Joffrey Ballet. Soloist Laura McCulloch retired earlier in 2018 after 17 years with The Royal Ballet. She trained at The Royal Ballet Upper School and graduated into the Company in 2001, promoted to First Artist in 2005 and Soloist in With the Company her repertory included Mitzi Caspar (Mayerling), Myrtha (Giselle), Lilac Fairy (The Sleeping Beauty), Helena (The Dream) and roles in Jewels and Elite Syncopations. She also created several roles for the Company, including in Christopher Bruce s Three Songs Two Voices and Alastair Marriott s Sensorium.

2 Director of The Royal Ballet, Kevin O Hare, comments: Laura has been a wonderful presence at The Royal Ballet, both on and off the stage. She has excelled in a wide range of our repertory, making a gracious Lilac Fairy and a commanding Queen of the Wilis, to mention just a couple of her memorable roles. She will be very much missed by us all and we wish her well for the future. Images are available to download here. ENDS NOTES TO EDITORS BIOGRAPHIES Cesar Corrales Cuban-Canadian dancer Cesar Corrales was born in Mexico City and trained with his parents, both professional ballet dancers, before attending Canada's National Ballet School. He performed the title role in the musical Billy Elliot in Chicago and Toronto from He danced with American Ballet Theatre Studio Company in 2014, winning the Grand Prix Award and Artistry Award at the Youth America Grand Prix, and soon afterwards joined English National Ballet, where he was promoted to Principal in His repertory with English National Ballet included Ali (Le Corsaire), Nephew (The Nutcracker), Mercutio (Nureyev's Romeo and Juliet), Albrecht (Giselle) Franz (Coppélia) and roles in Fantastic Beings, Le Jeune homme et la mort and In the middle, somewhat elevated. He created the role of Hilarion in Akram Khan's Giselle. His recent awards include 2016's Emerging Dancer Award and the 2017 National Dance Award for Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) for Le Corsaire. Joseph Aumeer English dancer Joseph Aumeer trained at The Royal Ballet School and joined Paris Opera Ballet on graduation in He joins The Royal Ballet as an Artist at the beginning of the 2018/19 Season. Joseph was born in London and started dancing at the age of nine. He was a Junior Associate before entering full-time training at Elmhurst Ballet School

3 in Birmingham and then moving to The Royal Ballet Upper School aged 16. His performances with The Royal Ballet while a student included roles in Alice s Adventures in Wonderland, La Fille mal gardée and Romeo and Juliet. His awards include The Royal Ballet School Achievement Award and the Lynn Seymour Award for Expressive Dance. Roles with Paris Opera Ballet included Rudolph Nureyev s Swan Lake and Don Quixote, George Balanchine s A Midsummer Night s Dream, Stravinsky Violin Concerto and Jewels, John Cranko s Onegin, Merce Cunningham s Walkaround Time and Crystal Pite s The Seasons Canon. Fernando Montaño Colombian dancer Fernando Montaño is a Soloist of The Royal Ballet. He joined the Company in 2006 as an Artist and was promoted to First Artists in 2010 and Soloist in He represented the Company in the 2007 Erik Bruhn Competition. Montaño studied at the Colombian and Cuban National Ballet schools and graduated into Cuban National Ballet in He also danced on scholarships with La Scala Ballet, Milan, and Teatro Nuovo di Torino. His repertory includes Colas (La Fille mal gardée), Jester (Cinderella), Gypsy Girl s Lover (The Two Pigeons), Bluebird (The Sleeping Beauty), Caterpillar (Alice s Adventures in Wonderland), Benvolio and the balcony pas de deux (Romeo and Juliet), pas de six (Giselle), pas de trois (Fool s Paradise) and roles in The Human Seasons, Multiverse, Obsidian Tear, Scènes de ballet, Manon, La Vivandière, Raymonda Act III, Chroma, Woolf Works and Carbon Life. Other appearances include dancing Le Spectre de la rose at the opening of the Teatro Colón, Bogotá. Choreographic works include Michelangelo for Draft Works. Montaño has twice won Personality of the Year award at the LUKAS Awards (2013, 2014), celebrating prominent Latin figures in the UK. His other awards include prizes at the International Ballet Contest, Havana, a Citation of Honor (New York) and an honour from the President of Colombia. He has modelled for Vivienne Westwood and choreographed and danced Alchemy for her Banqueting House catwalk show in His dance short film Narcissus had its premiere in He is a patron of the charity Children of the Andes, for which he has organized the charity galas Fernando and Friends. Leticia Stock

4 Brazilian dancer Leticia Stock is a First Artist of The Royal Ballet. She trained at The Royal Ballet Upper School and graduated into the Company in 2009, promoted to First Artist in Stock grew up in Rio de Janeiro and began dancing at the age of three. She trained locally at the Maria Olenewa State Dance School and, when her family moved to Europe, at the Teatro Dell Opera di Roma Ballet School. Aged 16 she won a Prix de Lausanne scholarship to study at The Royal Ballet Upper School and while a student danced in a number of performances with the Company, including Soirée musicale, Napoli divertissements and The Dream. Stock s repertory with the Company includes Clara (The Nutcracker), pas de deux (Viscera), pas de six (Giselle) and roles in Carbon Life, Multiverse, Symphonic Variations and Metamorphosis: Titian She has created roles in Liam Scarlett s Asphodel Meadows, Sweet Violets and The Age of Anxiety and Wayne McGregor s Limen and Woolf Works. Laura McCulloch Scottish dancer Laura McCulloch is a former Soloist of The Royal Ballet. She trained at The Royal Ballet Upper School and graduated into the Company in 2001, promoted to First Artist in 2005 and Soloist in McCulloch was born in Glasgow and trained with Elma Whyte and at the Dance School of Scotland before joining The Royal Ballet Upper School. As a student she danced in performances with Birmingham Royal Ballet (Giselle) and The Royal Ballet (Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and La Fille mal gardée). With the Company her repertory included Mitzi Caspar (Mayerling), Myrtha (Giselle), Lilac Fairy (The Sleeping Beauty), Helena (The Dream) and roles in Jewels and Elite Syncopations. McCulloch created several roles for the Company, including in Christopher Bruce s Three Songs Two Voices and Alastair Marriott s Sensorium. The Royal Ballet Based at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, The Royal Ballet is Great Britain s most prestigious ballet company and one of the great classical ballet companies of the world. Led by Director Kevin O Hare, the Company has a wide-ranging repertory that showcases the great 19 th -century classics alongside heritage works including those of tis two great 20 th -century choreographers Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan. In addition, The Royal Ballet performs new works by Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor, Royal Ballet Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon and Royal

5 Ballet Artist in Residence Liam Scarlett, three of the foremost international choreographers of today. The Royal Opera House is committed to enabling as many people as possible to experience and enjoy world class ballet. Each Season more than 690,000 people attend performances at the Opera House; 27,000 people participate in education and community events ranging from Monday Moves for blind and partially sighted people to Chance to Dance for talented children from a variety of backgrounds. Many hundreds of thousands across the UK and overseas tune in to BBC radio and television broadcasts; more than 19,000 attend our free outdoor BP Summer Big Screens live relays from the Royal Opera House; and a further 240,000 have been able to watch our productions in cinemas worldwide. In addition World Ballet Day, the annual live stream behind the scenes of the world s leading ballet companies, has been seen by more than a million people. International touring plays an important role in the Company s core activities and this year the Company toured to Teatro Real in Madrid with Liam Scarlett s Swan Lake. International tours also include extensive learning engagement and outreach with dance and community groups to encourage dance and promote ballet to new audiences. PRESS OFFICE CONTACTS Ashley Woodfield Head of Ballet Press Tel: ashley.woodfield@roh.org.uk

6 Sarah Farrell Ballet Press and Communications Officer Tel: Katharine Morgan Ballet Press Administrator Tel: Click here to unsubscribe