Paloma Herrera (born 21 December 1975) is a prominent

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

, choreographer, and artistic director who was a principal dancer with

American Ballet Theatre 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 ...

, where she worked for twenty-four years. She was the director of

Colon Theater Ballet Colon Theater Ballet is a ballet company based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The company is attached to the Colon Theater, which is also home to the Buenos Aires Philharmonic orchestra and the Colon Theater Opera company. It was established in 192 ...

from 2017 until 2022. Herrera was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and began studying

there at the age of seven with teacher

Olga Ferri Olga Ferri (20 September 1928 – 15 September 2012) was an Argentine choreographer and ballet dancer.

. She quickly became a noted prodigy in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, winning many competitions throughout and was able to continue her training at the Minsk Ballet School in the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (now

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

); returning to Buenos Aires, she was cast as Cupid in a performance of '' Don Quixote'' at the

Teatro Colón The Teatro Colón (Spanish: ''Columbus Theatre'') is the main opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acousti ...

. With her reputation growing, Herrera was invited by Natalia Makarova to study with her at 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 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Soon afterwards, she studied at the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where she made such an impression that she was selected to dance the lead role in ''

Raymonda ''Raymonda'' (russian: Раймонда) is a ballet in three acts, four scenes with an apotheosis, choreographed by Marius Petipa to music by Alexander Glazunov, his Opus 57. It was first presented by the Imperial Ballet at the Imperial Mariinsky ...

'' in the school's annual workshop performance. She officially became a member of the American Ballet Theatre's

corps de ballet In ballet, the ''corps de ballet'' (; French for "body of the ballet") is the group of dancers who are not principal dancers or soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and often work as a backdrop for the principal dancers. ...

in 1991; by 1993, she was promoted to soloist, and by 1995 she became a

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be male or female. The position is similar to that of '' soloist''; however, p ...

. Herrera was honored by the American Immigration Law Foundation in 2001 for her contributions as a member of New York's immigrant population. In addition to being a respected ballerina, she is a common presence in the New York social scene. Herrera retired from professional ballet as a dancer in 2015. ABT's 2015 Spring Season was her final one with the company. Principal dancers Julie Kent and Xiomara Reyes retired at the same time. On 8 August 2017, she was appointed director of the

, a position in which she replaced

Maximiliano Guerra Maximiliano is a masculine name of Latin origin, with its derivation from the Latin word "Maximum", which literally translates to "greatest". In fact, as a byproduct of imperialism, the name has become very common in Latin America and rivals that ...

, who was removed from office after a public confrontation with the dance corps. The inauguration took place in a ceremony in the Theatre itself directed by the city's mayor, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. She resigned from the position in 2022 due to confrontation with dance corps and lack of support from the city authorities.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herrera, Paloma Argentine ballerinas Prima ballerinas 1975 births Living people People from Buenos Aires American Ballet Theatre principal dancers English National Ballet School of American Ballet alumni