Xiomara Reyes and her Path to Glory

            The dancer I chose for my research project is Xiomara Reyes who is a strong hispanic woman that I felt I could really connect with. When I did my initial research I was happy to find out that she was born and raised in Cuba. Being Hispanic myself it was easy when it came to choosing a dancer from the recommendation list. The name of this dancer also had to do with why I chose her, I have an aunt who has the same first and last name, this caught my attention at first glance. Along with this I enjoyed her story, she embarked on many journeys and was not afraid to leave home to achieve her dream. This really touched me because it was very encouraging to hear that she left home and family early on to give herself a better opportunity, which is something I feel I can relate to. Being a first generation college student who also left home early on, this helped me feel more connected to her. Xiomara Reyes started her ballet career at a young age, moved up the ladder as a dancer with various job opportunities all over the world, and was finally able to retire as a dancer as a Head of a Professional Training Division.

Xiomara Reyes in Seven Sonatas by Alexei Ratmansky

            Xiomara Reyes was born in Cuba and spent most of her childhood there attending Cuba's National Ballet School. After this she spent some time at the National Ballet of Cuba where she performed as a soloist and corp de ballet, while she was there she was offered the chance to perform other leading roles at Joven Guardia de Cuba under Laura Alonso. After two years there she was asked to join the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Belgium and Xiomara accepted, leaving her home and family in Cuba. At this school she had the opportunity to dance in many continents, such as Europe, Asia, and Northern America. According to Washington Ballet she danced there as a soloist and had many principal roles for seven years. There she worked hard and eventually got ranked as First Soloist. She was in many performances, some of them including La Bayadere, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake. It was an easy transition for Xiomara with the right support and her passion for ballet. She was influenced by teachers from her past and present that showed their own passion for dance, allowing for her to grow her passion. One of these teachers that greatly impacted Xiomara at her time in Belgium was Laura Alonso, who was someone that had already shown they believed in her dancing capabilities while she was still in Cuba.


                                             Xiomara Reyes by Natalia Boesch, February 28, 2019

            Reyes’ career consisted of many performances all over the country. Her career began at the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Belgium where she was contracted and danced with for many years. After this though she did some freelancing jobs until she was finally able to get her dream job at The American Ballet Theater. This occurred in the year 2001, she was contracted as a soloist for about two years until she later got promoted to Principal Dancer. It was at this school where Xiomara actually had the chance to really grow as a dancer. She was able to perform in many shows by some of her favorite choreographers such as MacMillan, Welch, and Neumeier. She performed as Juliet in MacMillans’ Romeo and Juliet and a few other shows but no roles were created for her. On top of this, she danced as a guest artist in companies in Tokyo, France, Italy and many other countries. She did this for about 14 years and managed to win many awards all over the world. She received the Gold Medal for the best soloist at the International Ballet Competition of Chiclayo, Peru in the year 1988. Reyes also won the Best couple Prize at the XIV International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria in the year 1990. Next she won the Silver Medal at the Cinquienne Concours International de Danse de Paris in 1992. Reyes also performed at the International Ballet Competition in Luxembourg and won Second prize in 1995. She danced until 2015 when she retired and became the Professional Training Division Head at the Washington School of Ballet, where she is still today.

                                 Xiomara Reyes at the 15th Anniversary of Miami International Ballet Festival

Xiomara Reyes as Kitri in American Ballet Theatre's Don Quixote

     

Xiomara Reyes as a ballet dancer had so many opportunities and really took advantage of these opportunities. One interesting fact I found about her was how she chose to leave Cuba to bring more opportunities for herself. She knew staying in Cuba she would not be able to become First Soloist as quickly as if she left because there were not as many first soloist positions available in Cuba. This is why she decided to leave and in a matter of no time she was first soloist at the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Belgium. Something else I found interesting was how MacMillan was one of her favorite choreographers. She wanted to be a part of something bigger like MacMillans choreographies and therefore felt the need to leave Cuba. Lastly, I found it interesting that energy and her spirituality is what helped her with enhancing her art. She was taught this technique of energy and allowing it to flow through your body when she was in Cuba and through a documentary called “Ballet” by Makarova. In this documentary was where Reyes was actually able to really see the energy flow through somebody else. Reyes allowed herself to feel the energy flowing through her body while practicing her dances, which made it possible for her to become such an amazing dancer. 

                                             Makarova Ballerina Series used by Reyes
  

Xiomara Reys on the left, with Paloma Herrera and Julie Kent by Tony Cenicola

I chose this dancer as my subject for my research paper because of the fact that she was hispanic, which made me feel more inclined to pick her for my project. I also had a more personal reason for picking her which was that she happened to have the same name as one of my aunts. Xiomara is not a common name at least here in the United States so when I saw her name on the recommendation list I knew right away I’d pick her. After her 14 years at her dream job at the American Ballet Theater she retired and joined the faculty at the Washington School of Ballet. She is still there today working as the Professional Training Division head, working on choreography and reaching students with her experience. Xiomara’s legacy is her educating the next generation of dancers, with her position at Washington School of Ballet she has the opportunity to guide those wanting to go down the same path she did. Xiomara Reyes is an inspiration to me and many other people out there that don’t believe they may have what it takes to become First Soloist or make a life long career out of their love of dance. 


                                           Xiomara Reyes American Ballet Theatre Farewell, 05/27/2015


                                                      Xiomara Reyes at Washington School of Ballet




Sources 

Rose, Sarah. “Xiomara Reyes- TWSB PTD Head, Former Ballerina.” Artistic and Holistic, 5 Nov. 2020, https://artisticandholistic.com/?p=68.

“Xiomara Reyes.” The Washington Ballet, 30 Aug. 2023, https://www.washingtonballet.org/people/xiomara-reyes/.

Siegel, Marcia B. Tudor’s Turn - JSTOR, https://www.washingtonballet.org/people/xiomara-reyes/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023. 

          Thompson, Candice. “Xiomara Reyes Lands Soft and Starts Running at the Washington School of  
Ballet.” Dance Teacher, 16 May 2017, https://dance-teacher.com/xiomara-reyes-lands-soft-starts

Comments

Post a Comment