Cesar Corrales

Cesar Corrales is a Cuban-Canadian Principal of The Royal Ballet. The Royal Ballet and Opera’s official biography says he joined the company at the beginning of the 2018/19 Season and was promoted to Principal in 2021, marking the latest stage in a career that moved quickly from elite training and competition success into leading roles on major stages.

Born in Mexico City, Corrales first trained with his parents, Taina Morales and Jesus Corrales, both professional ballet dancers, before attending Canada’s National Ballet School. He also performed the title role in Billy Elliot in Chicago and Toronto from 2010 to 2011, an early sign of the theatrical confidence that would remain part of his stage identity. In 2014 he danced with American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, won both the Grand Prix Award and Artistry Award at Youth America Grand Prix, and soon afterwards joined English National Ballet, where he was promoted to Principal in 2017.

His repertory at English National Ballet included Ali in Le Corsaire, Mercutio in Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet, Albrecht in Giselle, Franz in Coppélia, and the created role of Hilarion in Akram Khan’s Giselle. Since joining The Royal Ballet, his official repertory has included The Prince in Cinderella, Onegin, Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, Prince Florimund, Prince Siegfried, Albrecht, Solor, Lescaut, Romeo, Franz, The Knave, The Prodigal Son and roles in works by both classical and contemporary choreographers, including Like Water for Chocolate.

That path has made Corrales one of the company’s most recognisable principal men: technically fearless, dramatically alert and especially effective in bravura roles that also demand presence and attack. His recent official honours include the 2016 Emerging Dancer Award and the 2017 National Dance Award for Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) for Le Corsaire, reinforcing the scale of the impact he made before and after arriving in Covent Garden.