With “Marianela: Timeless,” the Royal Ballet Star Says Thank You
This summer at The Royal Ballet, veteran star Marianela Nuñez curates her first-ever show for the company. Marianela: Timeless, onstage at the Royal Opera House July 29–August 2, brings together an evening of repertoire selected by Nuñez to mark her 28-year career there.
The program includes two of Nuñez’s favorites, Jerome Robbins’ In the Night and Frederick Ashton’s Marguerite and Armand, as well as a selection of divertissements which have not yet been announced. An inventory of Royal Ballet stars will join her onstage, including Matthew Ball, William Bracewell, Lukas B. Brændsrød, Fumi Kaneko, Mayara Magri, Vadim Muntagirov, Aiden O’Brien, Calvin Richardson, Mariko Sasaki, Christopher Saunders, and Akane Takada. Patricio Revé, who this month joined the company as a principal dancer following his season as a guest artist, rounds out the list.
In a preview of the show’s program notes, Nuñez describes her curation choices as “a love letter to the company, and the audience.” A native of Argentina, Nuñez trained with the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, then joined the company at 14. The Royal Ballet offered her a contract when she was 15, but under British labor laws, she was too young to accept. A star from the beginning, the Royal Ballet held her spot while Nuñez spent a year at the school, then joined the corps de ballet in 1998, at age 16. Nuñez was promoted to first soloist in 2000 and principal in 2002, when she was just 20 years old.
Timeless is one of two summer programs at the Opera House. Former Royal Ballet principal Carlos Acosta has also curated his own evening, running August 5–9. (Acosta, 53, will take the stage with guest artists from Birmingham Royal Ballet, where he now serves as artistic director, as well as his company Acosta Danza.)
In a recent Instagram post, Nuñez elaborated on her vision for her program: “I think [Timeless] is a moment for me to say thank you to my partners; to my colleagues; the company, the Royal Ballet, which is my family, my home; the Royal Opera House—and of course to the audiences,” she says. “Without them, I wouldn’t be here.”
