MEET THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE FONTEYN 2025

Born in Buenos Aires in 1975, Paloma began her studies with Olga Ferri and graduated with the highest honours from the Instituto Superior de Arte at the Teatro Colón. 

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At a young age, she won several awards across South America, and at 12, made her debut as the lead Cupid in Don Quixote at the Teatro Colón. At 15, she moved to New York, continuing her training at the School of American Ballet, where she was selected to dance the lead role in George Balanchine’s Raymonda Variations. She then auditioned for the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where she was hired the same year, and by 19, had become the youngest artist to reach the rank of principal dancer at the company. 

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Paloma performed in all of the company’s tours throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and appeared as a guest star with the New York City Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Kremlin Palace Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Teatro Colón, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and the Bolshoi Theatre, among others. She has danced the great ballets of the classical repertoire and collaborated with prestigious choreographers like Twyla Tharp, James Kudelka, Nacho Duato, Jiří Kylián, and Alexei Ratmansky. 

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From 2017 until February 2022, she served as the Artistic Director of the Ballet Estable at the Teatro Colón, where the company experienced outstanding growth under her leadership. 

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Paloma serves as a judge for various prestigious international competitions and, since late 2022, has been the Artistic Director of the Summer Intensive at KAATSBAAN Cultural Park in Upstate New York. 

Born in Buenos Aires in 1967, Julio began his dance studies at the age of four and entered the ISA Teatro Colón in 1974. His professional career began as principal dancer of the Teresa Carreño Foundation and the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro. In 1985, he won the gold medal at the 5th Moscow International Dance Competition and was hired as principal dancer by the American Ballet Theatre (ABT).  

 

He has danced with The Royal Ballet, the Bolshoi, the Kirov, Teatro alla Scala, and the ballets of Stuttgart, the Paris Opera, the National of Cuba and the Teatro Colón, among others, and in 1990 he founded the Ballet Argentino.  

 

Julio is currently a teacher at the English National Ballet, at the schools of the Paris Opera, San Francisco and the ABT, the ballets of Finland, Australia, Houston, Orlando, Royal Sweden, the Teatro alla Scala, Bolshoi, and the Korean University of the Arts. He is the winner of the ‘Premio Benoise de la Danse’, the María Ruanova Award, ‘Primus Inter Pares’, the Gino Tani Prize and ‘Premio Fernando Bujones’ (ABT), and has been awarded gold medals from the Kennedy Center and Delmira Agustini Awards (Uruguay). He was named Personality of the Year by the French Minister of Culture in 1990 and is a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters of France. A member of the National Council of Dance, Cid, Paris-Unesco and Cultural Ambassador of the MERCOSUR Cities, in 2025 he was appointed Director of the Stable Ballet of the Teatro Colón. 

Ana is one of Brazil's most celebrated ballerinas and the longtime principal dancer of the Ballet of the Theatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro. Born in Rio de Janeiro, she studied ballet from childhood and launched her professional career in France with Roland Petit's Ballet de Marseille. 

 

Over the years, she has performed at major international festivals, in Lausanne, Venice, Havana, and Madrid, representing Brazil on prestigious stages. She has also been a guest artist with renowned companies including Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, the National Ballet of Cuba, Rome Opera Ballet, and Ballet de Santiago, among others. 

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Since 1981, Ana has held the position of Principal Dancer at the Theatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro and also served as artistic director of the company from 2015 to 2018. 

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Her accolades include being made Ambassador of the City of Rio de Janeiro, being awarded the Pedro Ernesto Medal, the Order of Cultural Merit (Brazil) at the rank of Commander, and France's Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2021, she became a member of the Brazilian Academy of Culture. 

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Ana has performed leading roles in over dozens of classical ballets and appeared in more than 100 cities across Brazil as well as many countries around the world. Beyond the stage, she is dedicated to promoting dance through lectures, workshops and public engagement initiatives, and remains an iconic figure in Brazilian cultural life. 

Brazilian dancer Mayara Magri is a Principal of The Royal Ballet.

 

Magri grew up in Rio de Janeiro and won a scholarship at the age of eight to train at The Petite Danse School of Dance, in her hometown.

 

She won the Senior Age Division of the Youth America Grand Prix and the Prix de Lausanne Scholarship and Audience Prize in 2011. Following that prize, she trained at The Royal Ballet School for one year and graduated into The Royal Ballet Company in 2012. She was promoted to Soloist in 2016, First Soloist in 2018 and Principal Dancer in 2021. 

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She is a Certified Ballet Teacher through The Royal Ballet School’s Teacher's Training Programme, graduated in 2022. A Global Ambassador of Grishko (Pointe Shoes), she is also an Ambassador and the commissioned choreographer for this year's edition of The Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition 2025.