Beatriz Eugenia Stix-Brunell (born 1993) 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 ...

. Her career started with

Morphoses Christopher Peter Wheeldon (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Early life Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at th ...

when she was 14. She joined

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 2010, was promoted to first soloist in 2016, and retired in 2021. She is 5 feet 6.5 inches tall.

Early life

Stix-Brunell was born in Miami and raised in New York City. Her father works in finance and her mother is an interior designer. She started ballet training at age seven 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 ...

. She also attended Nightingale Bamford School. At age 12, she attended

Paris Opera Ballet School The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded a ...

. Her mother and brother relocated to Paris, while her father visited when possible. When Stix-Brunell first arrived, she didn’t speak French, but managed to learn it in three months. After a year in Paris, though she was graded first in her class, she returned to New York to train privately and continued to study at Nightingale-Bamford. As a National Training Scholar at

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 ...

she danced in Kevin McKenzie's ''

Sleeping Beauty "Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...

''.

Career

At age 14, Stix-Brunell auditioned for

Christopher Wheeldon Christopher Peter Wheeldon (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Early life Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at th ...

's company

after seeing a flier about the company recruiting dancers, and was invited to join the company by Wheeldon. and danced works such as ''

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

'' and ''

Polyphonia ''Polyphonia'' is a one-act ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to music by György Ligeti, costumes designed by Holly Hynes, and was created for the New York City Ballet. It premiered on January 4, 2001 at the New York State Theater. ...

''. She danced with dancers from

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 ...

and

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 ...

, including

Leanne Benjamin Leanne Faye Benjamin (born 13 July 1964) is a retired Australian ballet dancer who was a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London. She was appointed artistic director at the Queensland Ballet in 2024. She stepped down from the positio ...

, Edward Watson,

Wendy Whelan Wendy Whelan (; born May 7, 1967) is an American ballet dancer. She was principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and performed with the company for 30 years, and toured in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Whelan has also been an influential gue ...

Maria Kowroski Maria Kowroski is an American ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet. Early life Kowroski was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She started ballet at the age of five. In 1992, she entered the School of American Ballet ...

and

Tiler Peck Tiler Kalyn Peck (born January 12, 1989) is an American ballet dancer who is a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. As well as ballet, she has performed in musical theatre shows and has made cameo appearances in films including '' Don ...

, and continued her schoolwork. Stix-Brunell met

Monica Mason Dame Monica Margaret Mason (born 6 September 1941) is a former ballet dancer, teacher, and director of The Royal Ballet. In more than a half-century with the company, she established a reputation as a versatile performer, a skilled rehearsal d ...

, then-artistic director of The Royal Ballet, when Morphoses toured in London. They began an email exchange. In 2010, at age 17, Mason offered Stix-Brunell a contract to the company, without an audition. She joined the company as an Artist the same year. She made her principal debut while still an Artist, dancing the title role in ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'', replacing an injured

Marianela Nuñez Marianela may refer to: People Given name * Marianela De La Hoz (born 1956), Mexican painter * Marianela González (born 1978), Venezuelan actress * Marianela Huen (born 1960), Venezuelan swimmer * Marianela Lacayo (born 1981), Nicaraguan model and ...

. A few weeks later, she stepped in for

Lauren Cuthbertson Lauren Louise Cuthbertson (born 11 June 1984) is an English ballet dancer, ballerina and a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London. Early life and education Lauren Cuthbertson was born in Devon in 1984. She began studying dance at a ...

when she had to withdraw from ''

The Prince of the Pagodas ''The Prince of the Pagodas'' is a ballet created for The Royal Ballet by choreographer John Cranko with music commissioned from Benjamin Britten. Its premiere took place on 1 January 1957 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, conducted ...

''. During her first year in London, she completed high school via Skype. Stix-Brunell became a Soloist in 2012, skipping the rank of First Artist, and First Soloist in 2016. Roles she performed with the company include Juliet in ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

,'' The Young Girl in ''

The Two Pigeons ''The Two Pigeons'' (original French title: ''Les deux pigeons'') is a fable by La Fontaine's Fables, Jean de la Fontaine (Book IX.2) that was adapted as a ballet with music by André Messager in the 19th century and rechoreagraphed to the same mu ...

'', Sugar Plum Fairy in ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

'' and leading roles in "Emeralds" and "Diamonds" 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 ...

''. In July 2021, Stix-Brunell retired from the Royal Ballet, to study at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Her final performance was in Wheeldon's '' After the Rain''.

Selected repertoire

Stix-Brunell's repertoire with the Royal Ballet and Morphoses includes:

Awards

*Outstanding Female Performance (Classical) at the 2012 Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards - nominated

References

External links

Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company websiteThe Royal Opera House websiteThe Ballet Association website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stix-Brunell, Beatriz American ballerinas Morphoses dancers 1993 births Living people Dancers of The Royal Ballet Entertainers from New York City American expatriates in France American expatriates in England 21st-century American ballet dancers Entertainers from Miami Dancers from New York (state) 21st-century American women Nightingale-Bamford School alumni