American ballet dancer, ballet master and ballet director
Ray Barra
Born (1930-01-03 ) January 3, 1930 (age 94) Occupations
Ballet dancer
Ballet master
Ballet director
Years active 1949– Organizations
Ray Barra (born January 3, 1930) is an American former ballet dancer, a ballet master and ballet director. He was a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre and a principal dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet , where he created parts in creations by John Cranko , including Romeo in Romeo and Juliet with Marcia Haydée as Julia. After retiring from the stage due to an injury, he worked as a ballet master with the Berlin State Ballet , the ballet of the Frankfurt Opera , the Hamburg Ballet and the Spanish National Dance Company .
Career
Born Raymond Martin Barallobre Ramirez [ 1] in San Francisco on January 3, 1930,[ 2] and studied ballet at the School of Ballet in San Francisco and at the American Ballet Theatre School. In 1949 he became a member of the San Francisco Opera Ballet . From 1953 to 1959 he danced with American Ballet Theatre , already as a soloist.[ 1] He was a principal dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet from 1959, where he performed classical parts such as the Prince in Swan Lake .[ 1] [ 2] He created roles in ballets by John Cranko , the title role in Romeo and Juliet with Marcia Haydée as Julia (1962),[ 3] the Prince in Firebird (1964), and the title role in Onegin (1965). He created major roles in ballets by Kenneth MacMillan , Pepe in Las Hermanas .[ 4] (1963) and Song of the Earth (1965).[ 2]
In 1966 Barra retired from the stage due to an injury. He worked as ballet master, from 1966 with the ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin ,[ 1] from 1970 with the ballet of the Frankfurt Opera , and from 1973 with the Hamburg Ballet of John Neumeier .[ 1] In the late 1980s he was associate director and guest choreographer of the Ballet Nacional de España Clásico in Madrid.
Barra choreographed for the Ballet del Teatro Lírico Nacional La espera , also known as Antes del albor , on Miguel Ángel Roig-Francolí 's Cinco piezas para orquesta (Five pieces for orchestra), first performed on 13 September 1987 at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.[ 5] He choreographed for the Washington Ballet Dumky Variations , on Dvorak's Piano Trio in E minor , Op. 90, played live.[ 6] It was first performed on 13 February 1991.[ 7]
Barra was ballet director in Berlin from 1994 to 1996. He has directed classical ballets for the Bavarian State Ballet , Don Quijote (1991), Swan Lake (1995) and Raymonda (2001).[ 1]
References
External links
International National People