Kevin O'Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet said,
Cesar approached me in October, having resigned from English National Ballet, about joining The Royal Ballet. I was happy to be in a position to be able to offer him a contract as a First Soloist from the beginning of the 2018/19 Season and I look forward to welcoming him into the Company.
Cesar Corrales is currently a Principal with English National Ballet. ENB Artistic Director, Tamara Rojo, gamely added,
I am so proud of our commitment to nurturing our exceptionally talented dancers within the Company, dedicating time and resources to help develop them as artists. English National Ballet will continue to offer dancers the opportunity to work with the best artistic, creative and coaching teams in the world, so that they can achieve their full potential.
Born in Mexico City, he joined Canada's National Ballet School 2008, and performed the title role of Billy Elliot during the Canadian tour of the production from 2010-2011. He has previously danced with the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, and won the Youth America Grand Prix Artistry Award in 2014.
Cesar joined English National Ballet in 2014, and was promoted to Principal in 2017. He was the recipient of the 2016 Emerging Dancer Award, and in 2017 was awarded the Critic's Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) for his appearance as Ali in Le Corsaire.
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
Cesar – congratulations and best wishes for a rewarding and successful time dancing with the Royal Ballet!
Congratulations and Good Wishes to Cesar Corales. I wish him well.
I look forward to hearing more about this exciting young talent.
1. English National Ballet conveniently released this announcement on Saturday 23 December (!), probably hoping that nobody would notice following the 16 dancers who resigned last season and the departure of legendary Irek Mukhamedov as their Principal Ballet Master..
2. O’Hare’s statement shows that Corrales was so desperate to leave ENB that not only he resigned without knowing where he’d go but he also accepted a downgrade from Principal to First Soloist in order to be in a better company. Something really bad must going on at ENB…