We are delighted to announce that Chilean ballet dancer César Morales, winner of the Dancing Times Best Male Dancer Award 2020, has accepted an invitation to become an Honorary Member of the Anglo Chilean Society.
César, a Principal with the Birmingham Royal Ballet since 2014, has had a distinguished international career in ballet and we believe that he perfectly reflects the ideals of the Society to promote the understanding of Chile, its people, its culture, its intellectual and artistic life. We are honoured to have César Morales as an Honorary Member.
César was born in Rancagua on 17th November 1978. He joined the Ballet School of the Municipal Theatre of Santiago aged 11, where he trained for three years before being awarded a scholarship by Ben Stevenson, artistic director of the Texas Ballet Theatre, to train at the Houston Ballet Academy. César returned to Santiago at the age of fifteen where he joined the Ballet de Santiago. After a year in the Corps de Ballet, he was promoted to soloist.
He explains that Swan Lake is very special to him since, at the age of just 18 and following his first performance of that ballet, renowned dancer and artistic director of the Ballet at that time, Ivan Nagy promoted César to principal dancer.
César danced with the Ballet de Santiago until 2003, when he moved to Paris to work as a freelance guest artist. César has won several awards both in Chile and abroad, including Dancer of the Year (Chile), Altazor Prize for Professional Dancers in 2002 and 2003, Gold Medal (Prague) in 2002, and Gold Medal (New York) in 2003). He has danced at the Nureyev Ballet Festival, the New National Theatre, Tokyo and with the South African Ballet Theatre.
He joined the English National Ballet in 2004, was Principal Guest Artist with the Vienna Staatsoper in 2006, before joining the Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2008.
On Monday 6th of December, the Embassy of Chile organised a wonderful tribute to César, which included messages from around the world.