Igor Yebra Iglesias (born August 1, 1974,

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

) is a Spanish freelance ballet dancer.

Early life

Igor Yebra was born in Bilbao, Spain, and was encouraged to start dancing by his parents, two music and dance enthusiasts who named him Igor in honour of the title character in Borodin's

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

. Surrounded by ballet and music during his childhood, primarily due to his parents' dance school, Igor never considered becoming a professional dancer and, just like other Spanish children, he dreamed of being a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. It was only after his parents took him to see Aram Khachaturyan's ballet ''

Spartacus Spartacus (; ) was a Thracians, Thracian gladiator (Thraex) who was one of the Slavery in ancient Rome, escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major Slave rebellion, slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Historical accounts o ...

'', starring the Bolshoi's

principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...

Vladimir Vasiliev, that he became aware of the masculinity that ballet could have, and started attending classes locally. He then moved to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

where he entered Victor Ullate's dance school and started formal training at the considerably late age of 13.

Career

Igor has trained with a multitude of Spanish teachers including Karemia Moreno, Lázaro Carreño, Pino Alosa and Ángela Santos. He started dancing professionally with Ullate's company, ''Ballet de la Comunidad de Madrid'' while still a student in Madrid. He graduated with honours from the ''Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza''. Igor remained with the company for six years, eventually becoming a principal. During this time he danced various contemporary and neo-classical ballets, including pieces from choreographers

Van Manen Van Manen is a Dutch toponymic surname meaning "from ", a former town in Gelderland now part of Ede.Nils Christie Nils Christie (24 February 1928 – 27 May 2015) was a Norwegian sociologist and criminologist. He was a professor of criminology at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo. Considered a leading figure of his field, Christie is one of two Norw ...

, Amodio,

Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th-century. Sty ...

, Micha Van Hoecke y and Ullate himself. Yebra started his career as a freelance dancer at the end of 1996 and joined Australian Ballet as a guest, despite receiving offers from recognized companies like 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 ...

, Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón,

Scottish Ballet Scottish Ballet is the national ballet company of Scotland and one of the five leading ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside the Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Northern Ballet. Founded in 1 ...

and

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 ...

. He is mostly recognized as a ''

danseur noble A ''danseur noble'' traditionally was a male ballet dancer who projected great nobility of character. Over the last century, the term has been used to define a male principal dancer who performs at the highest theatrical level combining grace with ...

'' and it is from the time he left Ullate's company that he managed to expand his classical and romantic repertoire to include various choreographed versions of ''

Giselle ''Giselle'' ( , ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (; ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet () in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, it was first perfor ...

'', ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'', ''

La Sylphide ''La Sylphide'' (; ) is a romantic ballet in two acts. There were two versions of the ballet; the original choreographed by Filippo Taglioni in 1832, and a second version choreographed by August Bournonville in 1836. Bournonville's is the only ve ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

'', ''

Coppélia ''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Éti ...

'', ''

Les Sylphides () is a short, non-narrative '' ballet blanc'' to piano music by Frédéric Chopin, selected and orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov. The ballet, described as a "romantic reverie","Ballet Theater", until 1955. A compact disk of ABT's product ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', '' The Sleeping Beauty'' and variations from ''

Le Corsaire ''Le Corsaire'' is a ballet typically presented in three acts, with a libretto originally created by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges loosely based on the poem '' The Corsair'' by Lord Byron. Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to ...

'' and ''

La Bayadère ''La Bayadère'' ("the temple dancer") ( ru. «Баядерка», ''Bayaderka'') is an 1877 ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by the French choreographer Marius Petipa to music by Ludwig Minkus and libretto by . The ba ...

''. His contemporary repertoire is an array of neoclassical-type ballets, including

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 ''

Theme and Variations In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve melody, rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these. Variation is often contrasted with mu ...

'', ''Concerto Barroco'', ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

''. He has appeared as a guest artist with Aterballetto, Ballet à l'opera de Nice,

Ballet Nacional de Cuba The Cuban National Ballet () is a classical ballet company based at Great Theatre of Havana in Havana, Cuba, founded by the Cuban prima ballerina assoluta, Alicia Alonso in 1948. The official school of the company is the Cuban National Ballet ...

, Ballet Nacional de Venezuela, Kremlin Ballet Theatre, the Bolshoi, the Kirov,

, Rome Opera Ballet,

Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet (TAB) is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur an ...

Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (LNOBT) (), founded as Operos vaidykla, is an opera house and ballet theatre in Vilnius, Lithuania. History Operos vaidykla was founded in 1920 by the Society of Lithuanian Creators of Art in the ...

and the

Arena di Verona The Verona Arena is a Roman amphitheatre located in the historic center of Verona, an iconic symbol of the Venetian city alongside the figures of Romeo and Juliet. It stands as one of the grand structures that defined Roman architecture and i ...

Ballet and is a guest principal with the Ballet de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux. As from 2001 he is a permanent guest and principal dancer with the Ballet de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux and the Rome Opera Theatre Ballet. January 2004 marked his debut at the Kremlin Theatre dancing the title role in

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

's ballet ''

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

'', and making him the first non-Russian to dance such role. He has created roles in various pieces including ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

'', '' La Traviata'', ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 De ...

'', ''

The Dying Swan ''The Dying Swan'' (originally ''The Swan'') is a solo dance choreographed by Mikhail Fokine to Camille Saint-Saëns's '' Le Cygne'' from '' Le Carnaval des animaux'' as a ''pièce d'occasion'' for the ballerina Anna Pavlova, who performed it a ...

'' and ''Don José''. In February 2018, Igor Yebra took over as the new artistic director of the Nacional Ballet Sodre (BNS) Ballet, succeeding Julio Bocca.

Personal life

He married

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

television presenter

Anne Igartiburu Anne Igartiburu Verdes (born 18 February 1969 in Elorrio, Biscay, Spain) is a Spanish Basque television presenter and actress. Biography She studied Industrial Marketing. She started working in the local television of Mondragón in 1993. She ...

in September 2004, from who he separated soon after, in December 2005. Igor realised one of his biggest dreams in 2006 when he opened a dance school in his hometown of

.Escuela de danza y coreografía - IGOR YEBRA
/ref> He's still a big

fan and supporter of his local team "

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

Awards

* The Jury's Special Contemporary Prize at the '' Eurovision Grand Prix for Young Dancers, Paris, 1989''. *Best Dancer of the Year Award by ''"DANZA & DANZA Magazine"'', Italy, 1996. *Second Male Prize at ''The II International "

Maya Plisetskaya Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya (; 20 November 1925 – 2 May 2015) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet times, she held both Lithuanian and Spanish citizenship.

" Ballet Competition'', 1996. *''Leonidas Massine'' Award, Italy, 2003.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yebra, Igor Living people 1974 births Basque artists People from Bilbao Spanish male ballet dancers