Considered one of the leading dancers of his generation, he has received numerous awards including the Prix Benois de la Danse and the national award of Spain. He is also credited with ushering in a new era for male ballet in America, thanks to his appearance in the 2002 documentary Born to be Wild and successful franchise show Kings of the Dance. The New York Times said Corella gave "classical dancing, especially in the 19th-century repertory, a new image."[2]
Having appeared on the front cover of The New York Times on various occasions, he is described as a "a dancer capable of turning performance into sensation"[3] and as a "force of nature"[4] by the Los Angeles Times.
After performing at the Kennedy Center Honors for the third time in 2014 he was made an official member of the artistic committee. He is the most featured dancer of the American Ballet Theatre in DVD recordings and his appearance as Prince Siegfried in the PBS presentation of Swan Lake won an Emmy Award.
Corella is the only dancer with a statue in the Madrid Wax Museum,[5] and has both a secondary school and dance museum named after him. He has also been a judge on the Spanish version of the popular television show Mira Quien Baila.
On 22 July 2014, Philadelphia Ballet (Formerly Pennsylvania Ballet) announced that Corella has been appointed as its artistic director.
Early career
Born and raised in Madrid, Corella trained with Karemia Moreno and Víctor Ullate and began winning dance awards at a young age, including the First Prize in the National Ballet Competition of Spain in 1991 and three years later, the Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the Concours International de Danse de Paris.
When the world-renowned Russian ballerinaNatalia Makarova saw the young Corella in competition, she contacted the artistic director of American Ballet Theatre and recommended that he be auditioned for the company. She described him later to the publication Dance Magazine as "exceptionally incredible… he is an angel who has been sent to us."[6] He was accepted into ABT as a soloist in April 1995 and was promoted the following year (August 1996) to the rank of principal dancer.[citation needed]
Professional work
Corella in a 2005 performance as Aminta, from Frederick Ashton's ballet Sylvia
In 2006, Corella established the touring show Kings of the Dance alongside fellow leading men Gudrun Bojesen of The Royal Danish Ballet; Johan Kobborg of the Royal Ballet; Ethan Stiefel of ABT; and Nikolay Tsiskaridze of the Bolshoi Ballet. which premiered, at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA, immediately followed by an East Coast premiere at City Center. In 2007, Kings of the Dance toured to Russia with performances in St. Petersburg, Moscow, ad Perm, Russia. The next year, Angel Corella was the sole returning original cast member to perform it at the Mariinsky Festival. Since its inception, the franchise has been continued by various other dancers.
Corella also devised an annual touring group entitled Angel Corella and stars of American Ballet which performed throughout Spain for seven years.
Encouraging of young professionals, he is a regular judge at several prestigious dance competitions such as the International Ballet and Choreography competition (Beijing) and has also taught at the various summer programs and leading dance schools including the Royal Ballet School in London.
The New York Times
Throughout his career Angel Corella has won the respect of both the notorious New York critics and international publications due to both his technical capabilities and artistic prowess.
In Corella's debut year with American Ballet Theatre, during a performance of Twyla Tharp's Americans We, The New York Times praised Corella's performance saying the ballet "explodes with this young dancer’s phenomenal bravura. Don’t miss him."[7] Increasing interest from audience and critics alike led quickly to more demanding principal roles. In his debut as the lead in the epic ballet La Bayadere the critic read "Angel Corella was nothing short of perfect."[8]
Described as a virtuoso for his trademark feats of endurance "extremely fast pirouettes suddenly speeding up rather than slowing down"[9] Corella excelled in the most demanding roles of the classical repertoire. Upon reviewing his first performance in Le Corsaire, The New York Times said "This performance bought the house down!"[9] The newspaper also praised his versatility "Mr Corella is the rare dancer who has performed magnificently in each part he has been given."[9]
Remarking on his artistic flair, the New York Times described Corella as a "highly sophisticated artist"[10] referencing his "finely nuanced acting"[11] and stated that "the young Spaniard could wow audiences with multiple pirouettes, but it was his joy of dance that carried the day."[12]
It was cited that Corella was often "the star - and the heart of the show"[13] frequently causing the audience to erupt into "feverish applause"[14] and that "by sheer force, he put the company one step ahead,"[15]
In the year of his retirement from the American Ballet Theatre, The New York Times wrote "Dancers like Angel Corella are hard to come by, and that speaks to more than just the radiance of his technique. He’s generous with his talent too.[16]"
Leading roles in other ballets include the following:Symphony in C, Other Dances, Push Comes to Shove, The Sleeping Beauty Act II, Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison, Variations on America, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Theme and Variations, The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Bruch Violin Concerto, Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes, Ballet Imperial, Sinfonietta, Gong, Who Cares?, Variations For Four, The Leaves Are Fading, Mozartiana, Without Words, A Brahms Symphony, Stepping Stones, Americans We, and Spring and Fall, Concerto no. 1 for Piano & Orchestra, Sinatra Suite, In the Upper Room, and Allegro Brillante, among others.
Ballets in Opera Productions:Dance of the Hours in Ponchielli's La Gioconda choreographed by George Iancu in Barcelona 2005 as well as Christopher Wheeldon's new Dance of the Hours in Ponchielli's La Gioconda for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, 2006. (Debut performances).
Retirement from American Ballet Theatre
Upon his retirement from ABT in 2012, Corella performed to a sell out audience at the Metropolitan Opera House and received a standing ovation lasting over twenty minutes. The New Yorker commemorated the occasion by caricaturing the artist. The arts journal wrote "For a long and happy time, we thought of Angel Corella, a much adored star of American Ballet theatre, simply as a king of dance. Now we are coming to know him as a native son.[17]"
Television appearances
1996 Kennedy Center Honors
1998 Sesame Street
1999 "Reopening of the Royal Opera House, London"
2001 Charlie Rose
2000 PBS presentation of documentary film Born To Be Wild - The Leading Men of American Ballet Theatre
2005 (Emmy Award-winning) PBS presentation of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, with Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes (Staging by Kevin McKenzie)
2006 Freixenet commercial
2008 Rolex commercial
2011 "Quien Vive Aqui"
2012 "Buena Fuente"
2014 "Mira Quien Baila"
Corella's DVD recordings
Angel Corella backstage at the Metropolitan Opera House in 2007 - Photo by Hermine Weiss.
Swan Lake with Gillian Murphy (American Ballet Theatre - 2005)
Romeo and Juliet with Alessandra Ferri (La Scala Ballet - 2000)
Le Corsaire with Julie Kent/Ethan Stiefel (American Ballet Theatre - 1998 VHS, 2001 DVD)
Don Quixote Pas de Deux with Paloma Herrera (American Ballet Theatre) on a mixed bill DVD titled American Ballet Theatre Now - Variety and Virtuosity (1996)
"Reopening of the Royal Opera House", London (1999)
"La Gioconda" Liceu Opera House (2005)
Awards
National Ballet Competition of Spain - First prize, May 1991
Concours International de Danse de Paris - Grand Prix / Gold Medal, December 1994
In April 2008, Corella established the first classical ballet company in Spain in 20 years, the Corella Ballet, Castilla y Leon; in February 2012, it moved to Barcelona and became the Barcelona Ballet.
Barcelona Ballet has since gone on to expand its repertoire and gain a great following across both Spain and the rest of the world. They are a touring company performing in many theatres across Spain, including Teatro Real, Madrid and the Liceu, Barcelona. They have performed internationally at the New York City Center in March 2010 as well as at the Los Angeles Music Center and Santa Barbara, California. They have toured cities such as New Orleans, Seattle, Charleston, the Spoleto Festival and the Guadalajara book festival, Mexico in November 2010.
Barcelona Ballet returned to New York City Center in April 2012 with a world premiere of "Palpito" by Spanish choreographers Rojas y Rodriguez as well as visiting Purchase, NY, Detroit, Houston.
In early 2013 Corella made the decision to dissolve the company to pursue other projects, indicating that he would likely head to the United States for professional reasons.
Corella continues to perform internationally, collaborating with various artists and choreographers, and was appointed as the Artistic Director of the Philadelphia Ballet in July, 2014.
