ICB Artist Bio
Paloma Herrera
Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theatre
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she began her training at the age of seven with Olga Ferri and graduated with the highest qualification at the Institute of Art at the COLON OPERA THEATRE. At age 14, Paloma was awarded FINALIST DIPLOMA at the XIV VARNA INTERNATIONAL BALLET COMPETITION, Bulgaria, in l990. In January 1991, having just turn 15, she moved to New York and continued her studies at the SCHOOL OF AMERICAN BALLET, where she was given the lead role in Balanchine´s Raymonda Variation for its annual WORKSHOP. After only six months, she joined the AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE. She was promoted to Soloist two years later. In l995, age 19, she became the youngest Principal Dancer in the AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE history.
Her roles with the AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE include: Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadère, Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, Coppelia, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, The Snow Maiden, Raymonda, Sylvia, The Merry Widow, among many others, and contemporary ballets: Apollo, The Prodigal Son, Stepping Stones, American We, Fancy Free, Without Words, etc. Famous choreographers created leading roles for her as Twyla Tharp, Nacho Duato, James Kudelka, Benjamin Millepied, Alexei Ratmansky among others and worked with Jiri Kylian and William Forsythe.
She appeared as Guest Artist with the most important International Companies: NEW YORK CITY BALLET, KIROV BALLET, BOLSHOI BALLET, COLON THEATRE, KREMLIN PALACE BALLET, TOKYO BALLET, NATIONAL BALLET OF CUBA and TEATRO ALLA SCALA of Milan (the opening of the new production of Coppelia) and the most prestigious Gala: Le Gala des Etoiles; Gala of Dance and Music, in London; The World Ballet Festival, in Japan; Gala at the Finnish National Opera; Festival de La Habana, The Bournonville Gala with the Royal Danish Ballet. Alessandra´s Ferri Farewell Galas in Tokyo;“An Evening with Paloma Herrera” at the Esplanade Theater, in Singapore, among many others.
In Buenos Aires, Argentina she has danced at the COLON THEATRE, full length ballets as La Bayadere, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Swan Lake and Galas with the most prestigious Principal Dancers in the world: JULIO BOCCA, JOSE CARREÑO, ANGEL CORELLA, GUILLAUME COTE, MARCELO GOMES, MAXIMILIANO GUERRA, ETHAN STIEFEL and DAMIAN WOETZEL and presented the “AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE WITH PALOMA HERRERA” in 1997 and “PALOMA HERRERA WITH THE STARS OF AMERICAN BALLET” in 1998 with Principal Dancers, Soloists and Corp de Ballet of theNEW YORK CITY BALLET.
Paloma´s photograph was on the cover of The New York Times Magazine as one of 30 Artists whom The New York Times critics chose- “as among those most likely to change the culture for the next 30 years" (the only one in Dance).
She won the INTERNATIONAL PRIZE GINO TANI, in Rome, Italy. In March 1999, DANCE MAGAZINE Reader Survey chose Paloma as one of "The Top Ten Dancers of the Twentieth Century". In May 1999, she was chosen as “Leader of the Millennium” by TIME and CNN Television. In September 1999, she won the KONEX PLATINUM PRIZE, as the “Ballerina of the Decade 1989-1999”; the MARIA RUANOVA AWARD (June 2000) and CLARIN PRIZE (2003) , in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
She was nominated for BENOIS PRIZE, in Moscow and the NIJINSKY AWARD from The Monaco Dance Forum (June 2000).
On December 11, 2001 she received the NEW YORK IMMIGRANT ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. On April 17th, 2008 she received the GOLD MEDAL ON THE ARTS from THE KENNEDY CENTER – International Committee in Buenos Aires.
Since 2004, she is Member of the Artist Committee for THE KENNEDY CENTER HONOREES, a National Celebration of the Performing Arts. The Prize is given by the President of the USA at the White House.