About
Eleonora Abbagnato (Italian pronunciation: [eleoˈnɔːra abbaɲˈɲaːto]; born 30 June 1978) is an Italian ballet dancer, model, and actress. She is currently an Étoile at the Paris Opera Ballet.
Born in Palermo, Abbagnato started dancing at 4 years old, and at 12 she moved to Monte Carlo to enroll in the dance school of Marika Bresobrasova. At 13, she toured Europe with Roland Petit's The Sleeping Beauty, in the role of Aurora as a child. She was then admitted, after a private audition, to the "Ecole de Danse" of the Paris Opera as a fellowship student.
On March 27th 2013, she is made an « Étoile » following a performance of Carmen (Roland Petit).
She has since added to her repertoire: : Emeraudes and Rubis / Joyaux (Balanchine, 2000), the title role of Mademoiselle Julie (Birgit Cullberg), Manon in L’Histoire de Manon (Kenneth MacMillan).
CREATIONS AT THE OPERA
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Le Rire de la lyre
José Montalvo - 1999
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Émeraudes/Joyaux
George Balanchine - 2000
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Émeraudes/Joyaux
Jiří Kylián - 2001
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Wuthering Heights
Kader Belarbi - 2002
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Approximate Sonata, Artifact Suite
William Forsythe - 2006
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Proust ou les intermittences du cœur
Roland Petit - 2007
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Troisième symphonie de Gustav Mahler
John Neumeier - 2009
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Daphnis et Chloé – rôle de Lycerion
Benjamin Millepied - 2014
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Le Songe d'une nuit d'été - rôle de Titania
George Balanchine - 2017
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The Little Match Girl Passion
Simon Valastro - 2017
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Fancy Free
Robbins - 2018
CAREER HISTORY
She Begins dancing in her home town of Palermo and continues her studies at the Académie Princesse Grace de Monte-Carlo (Marika Bresobrasova).
1989
She is chosen by Roland Petit to play the role of the child Aurore in his version of Sleeping Beauty.
1992
After a year spent at the Rosella Hightower Dance Centre in Cannes, she enters the Paris Opera Ballet School.
1996
At the age of 18, she joins the Corps de ballet. 1998 Finalist at the Varna International Ballet Competition. She is cast as a soloist in Temptations of the Moon (Martha Graham) and the Bridesmaid in Don Quichotte (Rudolf Nureyev).
1999
“Coryphée”. Prix du Cercle Carpeaux. She Is chosen by William Forsythe for his ballets The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude and Pas./Parts. She also dances the Pas de Deux des Écossais in La Sylphide (Pierre Lacotte after Philippe Taglioni), Marie in Clavigo (Roland Petit) and the Bluebird pas de deux in Sleeping Beauty (Rudolf Nureyev).
2000
She is made a “Sujet”. Prix AROP de la Danse. She plays one of the two sisters in Cinderella, Gamzatti in La Bayadère, Henriette and Clémence in Raymonda (Rudolf Nureyev), and the role of Death in The Young Man and Death (Roland Petit).
2001
She becomes a “Première danseuse”. The Four Temperaments, Symphony in C, Polyhymnia in Apollo, Serenade(George Balanchine), Le Sacre du Printemps, Orpheus and Eurydice (Pina Bausch), Ada in Le Concours, Serait-ce la Mort, the Elue in Le Sacre du Printemps (Maurice Béjart), Myrtha in Giselle (after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot), the Young Sister in The House of Bernarda Alba (Mats Ek), Woundwork 1 (William Forsythe), Anastasia in Ivan the Terrible (Yuri Grigorovitch), Stepping Stones, Doux Mensonges (Jiří Kylián), Garance in Les Enfants du Paradis (José Martinez), Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the title role of Sylvia, Marguerite in La Dame aux Camélias(John Neumeier), Odette / Odile in Swan Lake, Clara in the Nutcracker, Kitri in Don Quichotte (Rudolf Nureyev), Esmeralda in Notre-Dame de Paris, Carmen, L’Arlésienne, Le Rendez-Vous (Roland Petit), Le Songe de Médée, Le Parc (Angelin Preljocaj), The Concert, Afternoon of a Faun, The Cage, Other Dances, In The Night (Jerome Robbins).