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

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. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...

. 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 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'', Basilio in ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'', 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 English National Ballet 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 1993 and the American Ballet Theatre 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, Ethan Stiefel and Vladimir Malakhov, directed by Judy Kinberg and produced by Jodee Nimerichter. 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 as Odille and Odette. Carreño was joined on stage by other members of the company including Marcelo Gomes, Maxim Beloserkovsky and Cory Stearns 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 Dancers from Havana American Ballet Theatre principal dancers 20th-century ballet dancers 21st-century ballet dancers {{Cuba-bio-stub