Thiago Soares (born 18 May 1981) is a Brazilian ballet dancer and choreographer. He is a former

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 ...

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 ...

in London, and guest principal in other theatres around the world.

Early life

Born in 1981 in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, Soares was introduced to dance in a street dance hip hop group of Vila Isabel in Rio de Janeiro eventually at 13 got a scholarship to trained to become a professional dancer at the Centre for Dance Rio where was graduated in 1998.

Career

Soares joined the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Ballet in 1998; where his repertoire included the Prince in ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchai ...

'', Siegfried in

Natalia Makarova Natalia Romanovna Makarova (russian: Ната́лия Рома́новна Мака́рова, born 21 November 1940) is a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. ''The History of Dance'', published in 1981, notes that "her performances set ...

's '' Swan Lake'', Solor in Makarova's ''

La Bayadère ''La Bayadère'' ("the temple dancer") ( ru. «Баядерка», ''Bayaderka'') is a ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by French choreographer Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus. The ballet was staged especiall ...

'', Romeo in Vladimir Vasiliev's '' Romeo and Juliet'', and 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 ...

''. In 2002, he briefly trained with the

Kirov Ballet The Mariinsky Ballet (russian: Балет Мариинского театра) is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russ ...

and danced Siegfried and Basilio and Prince desire with the Russian State Ballet. Soares joined the Royal Ballet in 2002 as a First Artist and was promoted to Soloist in September 2003, First Soloist in September 2004 and finally, Principal dancer in September 2006 and eventually a principal guest from 2017 to 2019. His repertoire includes the majority of the classics the title role in

John Cranko John Cyril Cranko (15 August 1927 – 26 June 1973) was a South African ballet dancer and choreographer with the Royal Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet. Life and career Early life Cranko was born in Rustenburg in the former province of Transv ...

's production of '' Onegin'', Siegfried in

Anthony Dowell Sir Anthony James Dowell (born 16 February 1943) is a retired British ballet dancer and a former artistic director of the Royal Ballet. He is widely recognized as one of the great ''danseurs nobles'' of the twentieth century. Early life and tra ...

's ''Swan Lake'', the Prince in Peter Wright's ''The Nutcracker'', Solor in Makarova's ''La Bayadére'', Prince Florimund in the

Monica Mason Dame Monica Mason (born 6 September 1941) is a former ballet dancer, teacher, and artistic director of The Royal Ballet. In more than fifty years with the company, she established a reputation as a versatile performer, a skilled rehearsal dire ...

, Count Albrecht in Sir Peter writer’s Giselle, Colas in sir Frederick Ashton’s La fille mal gardee, Franz in Nineteen de Valois Coopelia,

Christopher Newton Christopher Newton (11 June 1936 – 20 December 2021) was a Canadian director and actor, who served as artistic director of the Shaw Festival from 1980 to 2002. Early life and education Newton was born in Deal, Kent, England and educated at ...

production of ''The Sleeping Beauty'', the lead Pas de deux in William Forsyeth's ''In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated''

Glen Tetley Glen Tetley (February 3, 1926 – January 26, 2007) was an American ballet and modern dancer as well as a choreographer who mixed ballet and modern dance to create a new way of looking at dance, and is best known for his piece ''Pierrot Lunaire ...

's ''Voluntaries'', Mark Morris' ''Gong'', Ivan Tsarevich in Fokine's ''The Firebird'', the First Movement of Balanchine's '' Four Temperaments'', the Second Movement of Balanchine's '' Symphony in C'', Diamonds in ''

Jewels A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

'', Balanchine's ''Tchaikovsky Pas de deux'' and the Queen of Fire's Consort in Christopher Wheeldon's Fire variation in ''Homage to the Queen''. His

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. E ...

repertoire includes Tybalt and Romeo in ''Romeo and Juliet'', Rasputin in ''Anastasia'', Lescaut in '' Manon'', ''Elite Syncopations'', '' Winter Dreams'' and Rudolf in ''

Mayerling Mayerling is a small village (pop. 200) in Lower Austria belonging to the municipality of Alland in the district of Baden. It is situated on the Schwechat river, in the Wienerwald (''Vienna woods''), southwest of Vienna. From 1550, it was in t ...

', Requien, (el Pepe) in Las hermanas His Frederick Ashton repertoire includes the ''Thaïs Medatition'' as de deux, Orion in '' Sylvia'', Colas in ''

La fille mal gardée LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'', ''

Birthday Offering ''Birthday Offering'' is a pièce d'occasion in one scene choreographed by Frederick Ashton to music by Alexander Glazunov, arranged by Robert Irving. The ballet was created in 1956, to celebrate the Royal Ballet's 25th anniversary. The first p ...

'' Pas de deux and ''Awakening'' Pas de deux, the Prince in Cinderella He has also created roles in

David Bintley Sir David Julian Bintley (born 17 September 1957) is an English former ballet dancer, the artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, and co-artistic director of the New National Theatre Tokyo ballet company. Early life Bintley was born ...

's ''Les Saisons'', Will Tucket's ''The Seven Deadly Sins'', Liam Scarlett's Sweet Violets and Wayne McGregor's Raven Girl. Nowadays, his agenda includes performances as a guest artist in different theatres around the world, and is the artistic director of the Ballet the Monterrey in Mexico and of his own dance studio in Rio de Janeiro, StudioTSmaisdanca. he is a member of the board of the Brazilian institute at King's College London.

Awards

His awards include a silver medal at the Paris International Dance Competition in 1998, a gold medal at the

Moscow International Ballet Competition Moscow ( , American English, US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia. The city stands on t ...

at the Bolshoi Theatre in 2001, and the "Outstanding Classical Dancer" award at the UK 2004 Critic's Circle National Dance Awards 2018 Medal of Cavalier of the order of Rio Branco by the Brazilian government for his services in the Arts. In 2020, he received an honorary doctorate from King's College London.

Personal life

Soares married fellow dancer and frequent partner

Marianela Núñez Marianela Núñez (born 23 March 1982) is a British-Argentinian ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, London. Early life Marianela Núñez was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has three brothers, all older than sh ...

in Buenos Aires in July 2011. They separated in 2014 and announced their divorce in January 2016, but they remain dance partners and friends.

On DVD

In 2005, Soares performed Orion in a filmed performance of ''Sylvia'', alongside

Darcey Bussell Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, (born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle; 27 April 1969) is an English retired ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest ''Strictly Come Dancing''. Trained at the Arts Educational Sc ...

as Sylvia and

Roberto Bolle Roberto Bolle (born March 26, 1975 in Casale Monferrato) is an Italian danseur. He is currently a ''principal dancer'' with the American Ballet Theatre and a principal dancer ''étoile'' at La Scala Theatre Ballet. Bolle also dances regularly ...

as Aminta. The performance was later released on DVD. In 2009, Soares performed the lead male role Prince Sigfried in Sir Anthony Dowell’s ''Swan Lake with Royal ballet'' which is also available on DVD.

References

External links

*
All I Am
'. A Beadie Finzi's documentary {{DEFAULTSORT:Soares, Thiago Principal dancers of The Royal Ballet 1981 births Living people Brazilian male ballet dancers