Angelica Generosa (born ) is an American

ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

. She joined the

Pacific Northwest Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is an American ballet company based in Seattle, Washington. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States, with 11,000 subscribers in 2004. The company consists of 49 dancers and hosts ...

in 2011 and was promoted to principal dancer in 2020.

Early life and training

Generosa was born to parents from the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and was raised in

South River, New Jersey South River is a borough in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 16,118, an increase of 110 (+0.7%) from the 2010 census count of 16,008, which in turn reflecte ...

. She started dancing at age four in multiple dance styles. Later, she spent a summer at the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

and was invited to stay as a full-time student; thus, she started traveling between South River and New York to train. In 2009, at age fifteen, she danced the role of

Liberty Bell The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American Revolution, American independence located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of Pennsylvania State House, now know ...

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

's '' Stars and Stripes'' with

Taylor Stanley Taylor G. Stanley (born May 30, 1991) is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. Early life Stanley was born in Philadelphia to a mixed-race family, and was raised in West Chester, Pennsylvan ...

at the school's annual workshop, after only two weeks of rehearsals in order to replace an injured schoolmate, and her performance was praised by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. Two years later, she performed Balanchine's ''

Allegro Brillante ''Allegro Brillante'' is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 3. The ballet is danced by a principal couple and a corps de ballet of eight. Balanchine said it "contains everything I knew about classic ...

'' at the workshop. She graduated after four years of training and was awarded the Mae L. Wien Award.

Career

In 2005, at age thirteen, Generosa appeared in the ''

Radio City Christmas Spectacular The ''Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes'' is an annual musical holiday stage show presented at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The 90-minute show features more than 140 performers and an original musical score, an ...

'' as Clara. After Generosa graduated, she was not offered an apprenticeship with the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

. The

hired her, but had her spend several months at the company's school before allowing her to join in 2011 as an apprentice; she was taken into the

corps de ballet In ballet, the ''corps de ballet'' (; French language, French for "body of the little dance") is the group of ballet dancer, dancers who are not principal dancers or Soloist (ballet), soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and ...

the following year. In her second year at the company, she was cast by

Twyla Tharp Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1965 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance, which merged with American Ballet Theatre in 1988. She regrouped the compa ...

to create a role in ''Waiting at the Station''. She was promoted to soloist in 2016. Whilst in the corps and as soloist, she was already cast in lead roles, including Aurora in '' The Sleeping Beauty'', Balanchine's ''

Tarantella Tarantella () is a group of various Southern Italy, southern Italian Italian folk dance, folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania, Sicilia, and Apulia. It is characterized by a fast Beat (music), upbeat tempo, usually in Ti ...

'', "Rubies" from ''

Jewels A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such ...

'', Robbins' '' The Concert'', and Fenley's 34-minute solo ''State of Darkness''. In 2020, she danced '' The Swan'' in

Misty Copeland Misty Danielle Copeland (born September 10, 1982) is an American ballet dancer for American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. On June 30, 2015, Copeland became the first African Americ ...

's fundraiser, Swans for Relief, a response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

's impact on the dance community, with funds going to participating dancers' companies and other related relief funds. Later that year, the Pacific Northwest Ballet announced her promotion to

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 either gender. The position is similar to that of ''Soloist (ballet), solois ...

during their first digital gala.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Generosa, Angelica 1990s births Living people American ballerinas People from South River, New Jersey Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancers School of American Ballet alumni Dancers from New Jersey American people of Filipino descent American dancers of Asian descent Mae L. Wien Award recipients 21st-century American ballet dancers 21st-century American women Year of birth missing (living people)