CONOZCA A LAS PERSONAS DETRÁS DE FONTEYN 2024

Presidente de la RAD, entrenador principal invitado del Royal Ballet

Dame Darcey Bussell DBE

Darcey Bussell is a former Principal with The Royal Ballet and the most famous British ballerina of her generation. During her nearly 20 years as a Principal, she became renowned worldwide for her unique combination of having a tall and athletic physique whilst dancing with soft lyricism.

​

Darcey trained at The Royal Ballet School and joined the Company in 1988. She was promoted to Principal in 1989, aged just 20, after the premiere of Kenneth MacMillan’s The Prince of the Pagodas, in which she had created the lead role. Darcey retired from the Company in June 2007 with a performance of MacMillan’s Song of the Earth, broadcast live on BBC2. She came out of retirement to dance the ‘Spirit of the Flame’ at the 2012 London Olympics closing ceremony.

​

Darcey’s extensive broadcast work includes being a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, many documentaries for the BBC and she has presented The Royal Ballet’s worldwide cinema relays since 2014. She remains a Guest principal coach at The Royal Ballet and is Artist Laureate of The Royal Ballet School. 

Her books include Darcey Bussell: Evolved, Darcey Bussell: A Life in Pictures, the ‘Magic Ballerina’ children’s series and her autobiography. In 2015 she founded DDMIX (diverse dance mix), a dance fitness charity, aimed at getting dance fitness to be part of PE in state schools.

​

Darcey became the President of the Royal Academy of Dance in 2012.

Director artístico designado del Wiener Staatsballett

Alessandra Ferri OMRI

Described by the New York Times as “one of the greatest dramatic dancers of all time,” Alessandra Ferri trained at the Scuola del Teatro alla Scala in Milan before moving to the Royal Ballet School in London. Aged 17, she joined The Royal Ballet and was appointed Principal dancer two years later.

​

Sir Kenneth MacMillan immediately entrusted her with his most famous ballets and created several for her, one of which, Valley of Shadows, led to her winning her first Olivier Award at the tender age of 21.

​

Invited in 1985 by Mikhail Baryshnikov to join the American Ballet Theatre as Principal Dancer, where she performed all the roles of the classical repertoire while working with some of the greatest choreographers of the 20th century, including Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Agnes De Mille, Anthony Tudor and Jiri Kylian. It was there that MacMillan created Requiem for her and Baryshnikov, with music by Andrew Lloyd Weber.

In 1992, she became a permanent guest at Teatro alla Scala where she was appointed Prima Ballerina Assoluta, a title created by Marius Petipa in 1894 and given to only two Italian dancers.

In 2015, she resumed her collaboration with The Royal Ballet, where Wayne McGregor created the role of Virginia Woolf for her in Woolf Works, for which she won her second Olivier Award.

​

Throughout her career, Alessandra has been a guest of many prestigious companies, around the world. In recent years, she has also dedicated herself to teaching and holding rehearsals for the principals of The Royal Ballet, La Scala, and American Ballet Theatre. Alessandra has recently been appointed as the next Artistic Director of the Wiener Staatsballett.

Artista independiente y ex líder del Ballet Black

José Alves*

José started ballet at 13 at the Adalgisa Rolim Ballet School in Brazil and joined the Bolshoi Theatre School in 2007, graduating in 2008. At the 2010 Youth American Grand Prix in New York, he won a scholarship to the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company. Unable to raise the funds to travel to New Zealand, he stayed in Brazil, dancing with the Ballet Company of the Young and appearing in Ricky Martin's "Samba" music video.

​

In 2012, José moved to Poland to join Teatr Muzyczny w Łódz and later Ballet Black for the 2012/13 season, rising to Senior Artist by 2014. He performed in works by Javier de Frutos and Will Tuckett and created roles like Demetrius in Arthur Pita's A Dream Within a Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Son in Mark Bruce’s Second Coming. After a year with Polski Teatr Tańca in 2015, he returned to Ballet Black in 2016.

​

In 2017, José performed in Martin Lawrance’s Captured and Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa’s Red Riding Hood. He led Ballet Black's World Ballet Day live stream, performing in Ludovic Ondiviela's Dopamine, broadcast by the BBC. In 2018, he played Oberon in A Dream Within A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Philemon in The Suit, winning the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award.

​

From 2019 to 2022, José performed in new works and co-created Say It Loud for Ballet Black's 20th anniversary. During the pandemic, he led online classes and was featured in his biography. In 2022, he performed in Ivan Putrov’s Men In Motion gala.

*José will be judging at The Fonteyn semi-finals only.

Director del Royal Ballet

​

Kevin O'Hare Comandante del Imperio Británico*

Kevin O’Hare was born in Yorkshire. Having started dancing at an early age, he trained at The Royal Ballet School from the age of 11 and, through an exchange programme, Royal Danish Ballet. On graduating he joined Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet under the direction of Sir Peter Wright CBE and was promoted to Principal in 1990 at the same time as the company relocated to Birmingham, becoming Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Performing across the UK and worldwide, he danced all the leading classical roles including Siegfried, Florimund, Albrecht and Romeo (in the first performance of Kenneth MacMillan’s new production of Romeo and Juliet for BRB), and created the role of Amynta in David Bintley’s full-length Sylvia. He also danced in major works by Ashton, Balanchine, Cranko, MacMillan, Van Manen, Tharp and Tudor. During his performing career he worked with Ashton, De Valois, MacMillan, Bintley and Wright, among others, as well as creating many roles. He has made guest appearances with companies all over the world, and produced many galas and choreographic evenings.

He retired from dancing in 2000 to work with the RSC, training in company management. He returned to BRB as Company Manager in 2001 and joined The Royal Ballet as Company Manager in 2004. He was appointed Administrative Director in 2009 and Director in July 2012.

He is on the board of The Royal Ballet School and Northern Ballet and is a Trustee of the Frederick Ashton Foundation and Patron of the Ballet Association and The Cecchetti Society Trust. In July 2014 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Hull. He was appointed a CBE in 2018.

​

*Kevin will be judging at The Fonteyn final only.