Ángel Corella, leading artist at the American Ballet Theatre in New York, is on a new Spanish tour, and also presenting his new project: the Ballet de España Ángel Corella, which he’ll soon be directing. This programme includes Le Corsaire, a tribute to Nureyev and Barishnikov, and has made him a star in the world of dance. The difficulty of the choreography in Le Corsaire, a must in any classical repertoire, has made it a mythical role for world class ballet dancers. For Corella Le Corsaire is “the acid test” for a male ballet dancer, and he compares it to a ballerina performing Swan Lake, adding “classical dancing is similar to making a suit: if you don’t get it just right, you can tell.”

In 1994, after his time at the Compañía de Danza de Víctor Ullate, Ángel Corella (Madrid, 1975), received the Gran Prix and the Vermeille Medal from the City of Paris. In 1995, he joined the American Ballet Theatre as a solo dancer, and was promoted to Lead Dancer in 1996. His virtuosity in leaps and turns, brilliant technique and charm as a performer have won him, amongst other accolades, the National Dance and Ballet Dancer of the Year Award in 2007, given by the magazine Dance Europe.