23 Facts About Ray Barra

Ray Barra was an American ballet dancer, ballet master, choreographer and ballet director who worked mostly in Europe.

Ray Barra was a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre and from 1959 a principal dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet, where he danced parts in creations by John Cranko including Romeo in Romeo and Juliet with Marcia Haydee as Julia, and the title role in Onegin.

Ray Barra created major roles in ballets by Kenneth MacMillan, Las Hermanas and Song of the Earth.

Ray Barra was associate director of the Spanish National Dance Company, and created several choreographies internationally.

Ray Barra studied ballet at the School of Ballet in San Francisco with the Christensen brothers, influential in early American ballet.

Ray Barra studied further at the American Ballet Theatre School in New York City.

Ray Barra had to serve in the military for two years during the Korea War, stationed in Japan.

Ray Barra starred in Paean, by Herbert Ross to music by Ernest Chausson in May 1957, alongside Nora Kaye, John Kriza and Lupe Serrano.

Ray Barra was a principal dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet, then directed by Nicholas Beriosov, from 1959.

When John Cranko came to Stuttgart in 1961, Ray Barra was one of few dancers remaining in the company.

Ray Barra created roles in his productions, such as the title role in Romeo and Juliet with Marcia Haydee as Julia and the title role in Onegin, both regarded as among the most important male characters in 20th-century ballet.

In 1966, Ray Barra had to retire from the stage due to an injury during rehearsal on his 36th birthday.

Ray Barra worked as ballet master, first from 1966 with the ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin following MacMillan.

Ray Barra assisted Neumeyer in freelance productions such as Josephs Legende, The Lady of the Camellias, and A Streetcar Named Desire,.

Ray Barra came to the Spanish National Dance Company in Madrid in 1985 and became a member of the directors' team until 1990.

Ray Barra choreographed there Poema divino to music by Scriabin, commissioned by Maria de Avila, the pas de deux Nocturne to music by Dvorak, his version of The Nutcracker, La espera, known as Antes del albor, on Miguel Angel Roig-Francoli's Cinco piezas para orquesta and first performed on September 13,1987, at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.

Ray Barra choreographed for the Washington Ballet Dumky Variations, on Dvorak's Piano Trio in E minor, Op.

Ray Barra was called to Berlin again in 1994 by Gotz Friedrich; his two years of directing the ballet there were regarded as a time of artistic success.

Ray Barra directed classical ballets for the Bavarian State Ballet: Don Quijote, Swan Lake and Raymonda, all still in the repertoire as of 2025.

Ray Barra choreographed Leyla and Majnun for a company in Istanbul in 1996, Canto General to settings by Mikis Theodorakis of poems by Pablo Neruda for the Greek National Ballet in 2005 and his version of Carmen in 2007 for the ballet of the Staatstheater Karlsruhe directed by Birgit Keil.

Ray Barra trained the ballet of the Royal Opera House in London in 2012 in a production of Las Hermanas in memory of MacMillan's 20th anniversary of death.

Ray Barra was the partner of Erik Bruhn, and then for 54 years of Maximo Barra, with whom he lived on Menorca from the 1980s and later in Marbella.

Ray Barra died in Marbella on March 27,2025, at the age of 95.