Angel Corella

American Ballet Theatre (USA) Born and raised in Madrid Corella trained with Karemia Moreno and Victor 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 ballerina Natalia 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. 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.Ángel Corella has performed as a guest artist with such companies as The Royal Ballet in London, the La Scala Ballet in Milan, the New York City Ballet, the Australian Ballet, the Ballet of Tokyo, the Asami Maki Ballet, Ballet Contemporaneo de Caracas, and the National Ballet of Chile. In March 2008, Corella made his debut with the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, dancing the role of Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake. Corella has also performed in all the most prestigious festivals, galas, and special performances around the world, including The Kings of the Dance which premiered, in February 2006 at NY City Center. In 2007, Kings of the Dance toured to Russia with performances in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Perm. The next year, Angel Corella was the sole returning original cast member to perform it at the Mariinsky Festival. Prior to 2008, he toured Spain extensively with his own company Ángel Corella & Stars of the American Ballet. In recent years, Corella has danced for Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the President of the United States. He has performed all of the classics and has received critical acclaim for his technique, musicality, and for his sensitive, dramatic interpretations of roles in ballets by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, specifically Romeo and Juliet and more recently, Manon. He has had the opportunity to partner many well-known ballerinas including Alessandra Ferri, Xiomara Reyes, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, Diana Vishneva, Alina Cojocaru, Nina Ananiashvili, Paloma Herrera, Irina Dvorovenko, Viktoria Tereshkina, Alina Somova, Evgenia Obraztsova, Alexandra Ansanelli, Michele Wiles, Stella Abrera and Letizia Giuliani, among others.

Arthur Mitchell

Dance Theatre of Harlem (USA) African-American dancer and choreographer who created a training school and the first African-American classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem. Among other awards, Mitchell has been recognized as a MacArthur Fellow, inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, and has received the United States National Medal of Arts and a Fletcher Foundation fellowship. In 1955 Mitchell made his debut as the first African American with the New York City Ballet (NYCB), performing in Western Symphony. Rising to the position of principal dancer with the company in 1956, he performed in all the major ballets in its repertoire, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Nutcracker, Bugaku, Agon, and Arcade. Mitchell was the only African-American dancer with the NY City Ballet until 1970. Choreographer and director of the NYCB George Balanchine created the pas de deux in Agon especially for Mitchell and the white ballerina Diana Adams. Although Mitchell danced this role with white partners throughout the world, he could not perform it on commercial television in the United States before 1965, because states in the South refused to carry it. Mitchell left the New York City Ballet in 1966 to appear in several Broadway shows, and helped found ballet companies in Spoleto, Washington, D.C. and Brazil, where he directed a dance company. The Company he founded in Brazil was the National Ballet Company of Brazil.

Krzysztof Pastor

Artistic Director of the Polish National Ballet (Poland) Choreographer and producer. Krzysztof Pastor began his ballet training with the Ballet School in his home town of Gdańsk. After his training, he joined the Polish Dance Theatre in Poznań (1975) where he worked with Conrad Drzewiecki, winning the position of one of the company's leading young artistic personalities. Four years later, he moved to the Teatr Wielki of Łódź. In 1983 Pastor became a soloist with Le Ballet de l'Opéra of Lyon in France, dancing ballets by Gray Veredon, Hans van Manen, Kurt Jooss and others. From 1985 to 1995, he danced with the Dutch National Ballet (Het Nationale Ballet), working with many well-known choreographers such as Carolyn Carlson, Nils Christie, Nacho Duato, Rudi van Dantzig, Jan Linkens, Eduard Lock, Hans van Manen, Maguy Marin, Toer van Schayk, Nina Wiener, and Peter Wright. He danced major roles in both classical and neoclassical ballets, as well as modern dance works. Pastor completed his first choreographic work in 1986 for an international gala performance in Łódź. After creating several ballets for the Dutch National Ballet's workshop programmes, in 1992 he was asked to design a ballet for the company's main programme: the successful «Shostakovich — Chamber Symphony». He worked as a freelance choreographer from 1995. In the 1997/98 season he joined the Washington Ballet as its choreographer in residence, and became the Dutch National Ballet's choreographer in residence in the 1998/99 season. Pastor has since gained considerable recognition as an international choreographer, creating nearly fifty ballets to date, including the highly acclaimed “Do Not Go Gentle…“, and “In Light and Shadow“; the large-scale, full-length production “Kurt Weill“, “Acid City“, „Don Giovanni”, „Tristan”, and „Dangerous Liaisons”"; as well as „Symphony Fantastic” for the Australian Ballet. In 1995 Pastor's duet “Detail IV” won the Gold Choreography Award of the Helsinki International Ballet Competition. In 2000 he was awarded the Medal of 200 Years of Polish Ballet by the Ministry of Culture in Poland, and the Dancers Fund'79 Choreography Prize in the Netherlands. His choreographies: «Do Not Go Gentle…» (2000) and “Kurt Weill” (2001) were hailed in the Netherlands as great artistic events of those seasons, and presented as such at the Dutch Days of Dance. In 2001, his ambitious and challenging production “Kurt Weill” was also nominated at the Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow) for the prestigious international Benois de la Danse Prize in no less than three categories. In January 2003, Krzysztof Pastor was appointed resident choreographer of the Dutch National Ballet, sharing the position with Hans van Manen. In this capacity, he created «Si después de morir», “Voice” which premiered at the Holland Festival 2004, “Don Giovanni“ as well as “Crossing Paths“, „Suite for Two”, and „Visions at Dusk”. In December 2007 he was invited by the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow to work with the Bolshoi's star Svetlana Zakharova (duet from “Tristan“ and solo from „Voice”). In May 2008 in Edinburgh with the Scottish Ballet, Pastor premiered his own original, cutting-edge version of Prokofiev's “Romeo and Juliet“ and his pieces „Moving Rooms” (2008) and “Sheherezade” (2009) were specially prepared for the Holland Festival premiered with the Dutch National Ballet. His newest work is “Dumbarton Dances” to the music of Igor Stravinsky in Amsterdam. Alongside his work for the Dutch National Ballet, Pastor has created ballets for many companies in other countries, such as the Royal Swedish Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, Scottish Ballet, Washington Ballet, Ballet Opera Dresden, Israel Ballet, Royal Flemish Ballet, Ballet of the Polish National Opera in Warsaw (Górecki's “Third Symphony”, 1994), National Ballet of Lithuania, National Ballet of Latvia, Donau Ballet, Ankara State Ballet, Australian Ballet, West Australian Ballet, and Royal New Zealand Ballet. He has also designed smaller choreographies specially for selected ballet soloists. His works have featured in the programmes of renowned festivals: Holland Festival, Holland Dance Festival, and Edinburgh Festival, and also at international ballet competitions, to great critical and audience acclaim. His choreographies have been presented by Het Nationale Ballet during the company's tours of the Netherlands, France, Canada, and Britain. In 2008 the Australian Ballet brought his “Symphony Fantastic” to its prestigious guest performances in Paris. He has also been invited to be a judge at the International Choreography Competition in Groningen, the Eurovision Young Dancers competition in Warsaw, the New York International Ballet Competition, and the Polish National Dance Competition in Gdańsk. After years of artistic absence from Poland, Krzysztof Pastor was invited by the Teatr Wielki — Polish National Opera in Warsaw to stage his “Tristan” to the music of Richard Wagner. Following the choreographer's first visits to Warsaw, the theatre's general director Waldemar Dąbrowski asked Pastor to accept the position of director of the Polish National Opera's ballet company, with the aim of giving the company artistic independence and elevating its position at the Teatr Wielki to that of the Polish National Ballet. Pastor took up his new post on 18 March 2009 while retaining his duties as resident choreographer of Het Nationale Ballet in Amsterdam. 

Denis Matvienko

Merited artist of Ukraine Principal Dancer of the Mariinsky theatre Denis was born on February 23, 1979 in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. Since 1989 to 1997 he was studied at Kiev state choreographic school. Being a last year student of the Kiev state choreographic school Denis made his debut on the stage of National opera and ballet theatre of Ukraine at Sleeping Beauty as Desire. At June 1997 became the principal ballet-dancer of National opera and ballet theatre of Ukraine. Since March 2001 to March 2002 worked at Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg) as the leading ballet-dancer. During the season 2001-2002 Denis performed at such performances as Don Quixote (as Basil), Jewelry of George Balanchine (as Emeralds and Rubies), premieres of Prodigal Son of George Balanchine (as Prodigal Son) and Cinderella of Alexey Rotmansky (as Prince). At January 2003 Denis returned to Kiev state theatre of opera and ballet as principal dancer Since October 2007 to March 2009 was a principal dancer of Mikhailovsky Theatre, St.Petersburg, Russia Since March 2009 - principal dancer of Mariinsky Theatre, St.Petersburg, Russia  He is the only one in the world to obtain four Grand Prix of international ballet competitions. He won the Vaslav Nijinsky Prize, Spirit of Dance prize in the category "Star". Guest artist of the Bolsjoi theatre (Moscow, Russia), New National Theatrе (Tokyo, Japan), Teatro alla Scala (Milan, Italy), Grand Opera (Paris, France), American Ballet Theatre (New-York, USA) and others. From 2011 to 2013 — artistic director and Principal Dancer of the ballet company of the National Opera of Ukraine. Guest Soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre from 2013-2014 and from April 2015. From June 2016 — Artistic Director of the ballet company of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre.