Michele Jimenez is a Classical/Modern dancer from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic currently a Principal Dancer with Het National Ballet in the Netherlands and formerly of The Washington Ballet.

Early life

Jimenez, an only child, lived with her mother who ran a party decorating business, and her stepfather who leads a heavy-metal band. Her upbringing was filled with music and dancing. "Music is on every corner of the island, so you're listening to a merengue or a salsa all day long," she says. "In the cars, in the shops, there's always a radio on, and people are dancing in the streets. It's very lively, the island. You have to dance even if you don't want to. So you learn at a very young age."

Dance career

She trained at the Academy de Ballet Magda Corbett (Dominican Republic) as a child moving on to the national company, Ballet Clasico Nacional de Santo Domingo, where she was discovered by a talent scout for Washington School of Ballet, Lorraine Spiegler.

Michele Jimenez auditioned for and joined the Dutch National Ballet

Dutch National Ballet

Dutch National Ballet was formed in 1961 when the Amsterdams Ballet and the Nederlands Ballet merged. The company has been directed by Sonia Gaskell , Rudi van Dantzig , Wayne Eagling and is currently directed by Ted Brandsen. It is the largest dance company in the Netherlands and attracts many...

 in 2006 after dancing for approximately 9 years with the Washington Ballet

Washington Ballet

The Washington Ballet is an ensemble of professional athletic classical ballet dancers. It was founded in 1976 by American ballet pioneer Mary Day, and has been under the artistic directorship of Septime Webre since 1999.-The Mary Day years :...

 as a principal dancer. She joined Dutch National as a Grand Sujet and later promoted to second soloist in April 2008.

She was recently awarded the Alexadra Radius Award for 2008, an award established by the Friends of The National Ballet and former first soloist of The National Ballet. The honor goes to the most outstanding dancer(s) from it tableau The National Ballet.

She danced main roles in many ballets like:Romeo and Juliet, Giselle

Giselle

Giselle is a ballet in two acts with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, music by Adolphe Adam, and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The librettist took his inspiration from a poem by Heinrich Heine...

, Coppelia

Coppélia

Coppélia is a sentimental comic ballet with original choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon to a ballet libretto by Saint-Léon and Charles Nuitter and music by Léo Delibes. It was based upon two macabre stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann , and Die Puppe...

, Cinderella

Cinderella

"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...

, Carmen

Carmen

Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...

, Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...

, The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...

and in many contemorary pieces from choreographers such as George Balanchine

George Balanchine

George Balanchine , born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet...

, William Forsythe

William Forsythe (dancer)

William Forsythe is an American dancer and choreographer resident in Frankfurt am Main in Hessen. He is known internationally for his work with the Ballett Frankfurt and The Forsythe Company...

, Hans van Manen

Hans van Manen

Hans van Manen is a Dutch ballet dancer, choreographer and photographer.He is a son of a German housemaid. He studied under Sonia Gaskell, Françoise Adret and Nora Kiss. Van Manen wrote many ballets. He worked for the Dutch National Ballet from 1973 to 1985. He was awarded the Erasmus Prize in...

, Krzysztof Pastor, Septime Webre, Wayne Eagling

Wayne Eagling

Wayne Eagling is a former Principal dancer of the Royal Ballet in London and is a leading international choreographer and director....

, Ted Brandsen, Alexei Ratmansky, Mark Morris

Mark Morris

Mark William Morris is an American dancer, choreographer and director whose work is acclaimed for its craftsmanship, ingenuity, humor, and at times eclectic musical accompaniments...

 and Christopher Wheeldon

Christopher Wheeldon

Christopher Wheeldon is an international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Born in Somerset, England, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at the age of 8. He attended the Royal Ballet School between the ages of 11 and 18...

.

Awards

• Award Best Classical/Modern Dancer of the Dominican Republic (1997 and 1998)
• Award Dance Fellowship from the Princess Grace Foundation (2003)
• Intertalento Award for artists living abroad, Dominican Republic (2003)
• Swan for best achievement on dance by the Association of Directors of Theatres in The Netherlands (2007). Award Dansersfonds '79 (2007)
• Alexandra Radius Prize 2008.

External links

• "An Island Treasure: In the Caribbean, Michele Jimenez Became a Dancer. Here, She's Become a Star"
• Michele Jimenez