18 Facts About Tamara Rojo

Tamara Rojo CBE was born on 17 May 1974 and is a Spanish ballet dancer.

Tamara Rojo was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet.

Tamara Rojo became the artistic director of San Francisco Ballet in late 2022.

Tamara Rojo began her professional career in 1991 with the Ballet de la Comunidad de Madrid, under the direction of Victor Ullate.

In 1996 Galina Samsova, artistic director of Scottish Ballet, invited Tamara Rojo to join the company.

Tamara Rojo danced principal roles in Swan Lake, Paquita, Coppelia and Glen Tetley's The Sphinx.

Tamara Rojo approached Royal Ballet director Anthony Dowell in 2000 with a view to joining the company, and was invited to become a principal dancer when a contract became available later in the year.

Tamara Rojo danced in the world premiere of Snow White, created for her by choreographer Ricardo Cue.

In 2000, Tamara Rojo was asked at short notice to replace the injured Royal Ballet principal Darcey Bussell in the title role in Giselle.

In 2002, while dancing Clara in Nutcracker, Tamara Rojo began to tremble on stage.

In 2003, while preparing for the Royal Ballet's Australian tour, Tamara Rojo suffered an infected bunion so serious that her foot swelled to the size of a tennis ball.

Tamara Rojo felt that she valued each and every day more and learned that nothing in life should be taken for granted.

In 2012, Tamara Rojo became the artistic director of English National Ballet, replacing Wayne Eagling.

Tamara Rojo followed up with Giselle: Belle of the Ballet in 2017, which included the history of both the original production and the new ballet created for the ENB by Akram Khan.

Tamara Rojo had commissioned Khan to re-imagine the story: Khan won the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards 2017 for Best Classical Choreography, Alina Cojocaru won Outstanding Female Performance as Giselle, and the company as a whole won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.

Tamara Rojo made her choreographic debut with a Florence Nightingale-inspired version of Raymonda, set during the Crimean War.

In January 2022, it was announced that Tamara Rojo will become the artistic director of San Francisco Ballet at the end of the year, succeeding Helgi Tomasson.

Tamara Rojo will be the first woman to serve as artistic director of the company.