José Manuel Carreño (born 25 May 1968) is a retired Cuban ballet dancer, who performed as a principal dancer with the

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 ...

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 ...

and American Ballet Theatre. Carreño started dancing at the age of ten and received his training at the Provincial School of Ballet and the Cuban National Ballet School. He won the Gold Medal at the

New York International Ballet Competition The New York International Ballet Competition (NYIBC), was a program providing dance education and employment opportunities for young dancers ages 17 to 24. In 1983 Ilona Copen founded NYIBC, with Igor Youskevitch as first artistic director, in ord ...

in 1987 and the Grand Prix at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi in 1990. He has appeared extensively in Europe, Latin America and the United States, dancing such roles as Franz in ''

Coppélia ''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-� ...

'', Basilio in ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

'', Albrecht in '' Giselle'' and Prince Siegfried in '' Swan Lake''. He has also performed in the principal roles in such works as '' Le Corsaire'', the '' Diane and Actéon pas de deux'' and the '' Black Swan pas de deux''. He has been principal dancer in the

in 1990,

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 ...

in 1993 and the American Ballet Theater starting in 1995. In 2004 Carreño received the Dance Magazine Award for significant contributions to the ballet world. In 2007 he appeared in the movie, ''Born to Be Wild – The Leading Men of American Ballet Theatre'' with

Angel Corella In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as wikt:benevolent, benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Oth ...

Ethan Stiefel Ethan Stiefel (born February 13, 1973) is an American dancer, choreographer, and director. He was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) from 1997 until July 2012. He was the artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet fro ...

and Vladimir Malakhov, directed by Judy Kinberg and produced by

Jodee Nimerichter Jodee Nimerichter is an American arts administrator and film producer. She currently serves as the executive director of the American Dance Festival. Early life and education Jodee Nimerichter is the daughter of Fred Nimerichter and Mary Lou B ...

. On 30 June 2011 he gave his final performance with the ABT in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera House in Swan Lake featuring Julie Kent and

Gillian Murphy Gillian Murphy ( ; born April 11, 1979) is an American ballet dancer who is a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. Early life and education Raised in Florence, South Carolina, Murphy was a member of Columbia City Ballet before at ...

as Odille and Odette. Carreño was joined on stage by other members of the company including Marcelo Gomes, Maxim Beloserkovsky and

Cory Stearns Paul Cornell "Cory" Stearns (born October 16, 1985) is an American ballet dancer who is a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. Stearns is also a high fashion m ...

who hoisted him overhead. Carreño served as the artistic director of the Ballet San Jose from 3 September 2013 until the company closed in 2016. He has performed on Dancing With The Stars television program. Carreño was Artistic Director of the Carreño Dance Festival in Sarasota, Florida until the program was discontinued in 2015. He served as the Artistic Director of Ballet de Monterrey (Mexico)from November 2016 until December 2018.

Personal life

Carreno was married to fellow dancer Lourdes Novoa and had two daughters Carmen and Alessandra. Carreño was engaged to fellow ballet dancer Melanie Hamrick. They ended their relationship in 2014.

References

1968 births Living people Cuban male ballet dancers Principal dancers of The Royal Ballet People from Havana American Ballet Theatre principal dancers 20th-century ballet dancers 21st-century ballet dancers {{Cuba-bio-stub