Cesar Corrales (born September 26, 1996) is a Mexican-Canadian ballet dancer and actor. He starred as "Young Billy" in the Chicago and Toronto productions of ''

Billy Elliot the Musical ''Billy Elliot: The Musical'' is a coming-of-age stage musical based on the 2000 film of the same name. The music is by Elton John, and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around Billy, a m ...

'' and has been a principal dancer with

English National Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish ...

. He is now a principal dancer with

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

Early life and education

Born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and raised in Canada, Corrales received his initial training from his parents, Jesus Corrales, a former principal with the

Royal Winnipeg Ballet The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America. History It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also fou ...

and

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal (GBCM) is a ballet company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A creative and repertory company, it performs works that reflect the diverse trends of contemporary ballet. History Les Grands Ballets Canadien ...

and Taina Morales, a fellow Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancer and formerly a soloist for

Cuban National Ballet The Cuban National Ballet ( es, Ballet Nacional de Cuba) is a classical ballet company based at Great Theatre of Havana in Havana, Cuba, founded by the Cuban prima ballerina assoluta, Alicia Alonso in 1948. The official school of the company is ...

. At the age of 4 he appeared in the Royal Winnipeg's production of ''Madama Butterfly''. Soon afterwards he appeared in the

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

movie, ''Shall We Dance?''.The New York Times Movies
Cesar Corrales Filmography New York Times In 2008 he won first place in Coupe Quebec gymnastics competition. That same year he joined

National Ballet of Canada The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca as the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...

's school and trained there until he was cast in the starring role of the Chicago premiere of Billy Elliot the musical. Introducing Toronto's Billy Elliothttp://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/April-2010/Chicago-Billy-Elliot-Opening-NIght-Cesar-Corrales/ Cesar Corrales Nails the Opening Night of 'Billy Elliot the Musical' He performed alongside the Tony-award nominated actress Emily Skinner, who played his dance teacher. After the Chicago production closed at the end of 2010, he starred in the show's 2011 Toronto premiere. Chicago Billy's Announced After leaving ''Billy Elliot'' he returned to training in ballet.

Ballet career

Corrales competed in and won the Prix de Lausanne in 2013 which offered a significant scholarship from the Oak Foundation. Rather than accepting this prize, he followed his mother to Europe and continued training with her while she was guest teaching at the Norwegian Ballet. He joined

American Ballet Theatre Studio Company American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

in 2014. While dancing with the company he won the Grand Prix Award and Artistry Award at the

Youth America Grand Prix Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) is the world's largest non-profit international student ballet competition and scholarship program, open to dance students of all nationalities, 9–19 years old. YAGP annually conducts regional auditions in the Unit ...

. He joined

in 2015, where he won the company's Emerging Dancer Award in 2016. In 2017 he became a principal dancer at the ENB and also won the National Dance Award for Outstanding Male Performance for Le Corsaire. The following year he was declared one of

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' has multiple sister publications, including ''Pointe' ...

's " 25 to Watch". His repertory with English National Ballet included Ali in ''Le Corsaire'', Drosselymeyer's Nephew in ''The Nutcracker'', Mercutio in

Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...

's ''Romeo and Juliet'', Albrecht in ''Giselle'', Franz in ''Coppélia,'' and leading roles in ''Fantastic Beings,

Le Jeune homme et la mort ''Le Jeune Homme et la Mort'' is a ballet by Roland Petit, choreographed in 1946 to Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582, with a one-act libretto by Jean Cocteau. It tells the story of a young man driven to suici ...

and In the middle, somewhat elevated.'' He also created the role of Hilarion in the premiere of Akram Khan's ''Giselle''. In 2018, he joined The Royal Ballet as a first soloist. He made his debut as Romeo in

Kenneth MacMillan Sir Kenneth MacMillan (11 December 192929 October 1992) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Ea ...

's ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'' alongside

Francesca Hayward Francesca Hayward (born 4 July 1992) is a Kenyan-born English ballet dancer and actress. She is a principal dancer in the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden in London. In 2019, she starred as Victoria the White Cat in the musical film '' Cats'', an ...

in May 2019. In May 2021, he was promoted to principal dancer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corrales, Cesar 1996 births Living people Canadian male ballet dancers Cuban male ballet dancers Cuban ballet dancers Canadian male stage actors Cuban male stage actors Male actors from Mexico City Male actors from Toronto