Marianela Nunez, Principal, Royal Ballet, in conversation with Dame Monica Mason

Marianela joined The Royal Ballet Upper School in 1997 and joined the Company in 1998, and was promoted to First Soloist in 2000 and to Principal in 2002 aged 20. She has performed all the leading roles in the classical, dramatic and contemporary repertory, including works by Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, John Cranko, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Wayne McGregor, Ashley Page, Jerome Robbins, Liam Scarlett, Glen Tetley, Will Tuckett, Antony Tudor and Christopher Wheeldon. Marianela was born in Buenos Aires and began dancing at the age of three. When she was six she began training at the Teatro Colón Ballet School, joining the Teatro Colón company aged 14. She took on corps and soloist roles and toured internationally, both with the company and as a guest artist.Marianela’s awards include Best Female Dancer at the 2005 and 2012 Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards, Konex de Platino for Best Dancer of the Decade in Argentina in 2009 and the María Ruanova Award in 2011. She received the 2013 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance, in recognition of her performances in Viscera and in roles created on her in Aeternum and ‘Diana and Actaeon’ (Metamorphosis: Titian 2012). She has appeared as a guest artist with companies including Vienna State Opera Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, La Scala, Milan, Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón, Ballet Argentino de La Plata and Australian Ballet, and in galas around the world