Greta Hodgkinson

Biography

Born in Providence, Rhode Island and trained at The National Ballet School, Greta Hodgkinson joined The National Ballet of Canada, where she has been a Principal Dancer since 1996. An artist acclaimed for her dazzling technique, delicate physicality and articulate characterization, she is a brilliant and versatile Ballerina.

Ms. Hodgkinson’s many lead roles include Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, the title roles in Cinderella, Giselle and Manon, The Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Kitri in Don Quixote, Hanna in The Merry Widow, Tatiana in Onegin and Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew. Ms. Hodgkinson has an extensive Balanchine repertoire including Terpsichore in Apollo, as well as lead roles in Diamonds and Rubies from Jewels, and lead roles in Theme and Variations, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, The Four Temperaments and Serenade. Other lead roles include Makarova’s Paquita, Glen Tetley’s Voluntaries, Alice, La Ronde, and Sphinx, Victor Gsovsky’s bravura pas de deux, Grand Pas Classique, Harald Lander’s Etudes, and multiple works by Jiri Kylián, including Dream Dances.

Ms. Hodgkinson has created many lead roles including Odette/ Odile in Swan Lake (1999), the title role in The Firebird (2000), the lead role in the Summer variation in The Four Seasons (1997), the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker (1995) and Anaïs in An Italian Straw Hat (2005), all choreographed by James Kudelka. Ms. Hodgkinson created the role of Isolde in John Alleyne’s Tristan and Isolde (2003) as well as roles in Sabrina Matthews’ clearing (2007), as well as roles in Jean-Pierre Perreault’s The Comforts of Solitude (2001), Matjash Mrozewski’s A Delicate Battle (2001), John Alleyne’s Septet (1999), Dominique Dumais’ one hundred words for snow (1999) and the weight of absence, Glen Tetley's Oracle (1994) as well as and John Alleyne's Interrogating Slam (1991). Ms. Hodgkinson danced in the company premieres of Kudelka’s Désir (1998), Terra Firma (1997) and Cruel World (1996). In 1994 she danced in Jean Grand-Maitre's Frames of Mind. In 1993 Ms. Hodgkinson danced the pas de deux in the company premiere of William Forsythe's Herman Schmerman and in John Neumeier's Now and Then. She also danced a lead role in the company premiere of Jerome Robbins’ Opus 19/ The Dreamer (2004) and in Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia (2007).

As a guest artist, Ms. Hodgkinson has appeared with The Kirov Ballet (International Ballet Festival Mariinsky), Teatro alla Scala, The Australian Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Munich Ballet, Teatro Comunale di Firenze, at the Opening Gala of the Royal Opera House, London, the Gala des Etoiles, Stars of the 21st Century and International Ballet Galas in the United States, Canada, Russia and Europe.

Ms. Hodgkinson was invited to tour Japan dancing Swan Lake with K-Ballet, partnered by Tetsuya Kumakawa. She also performed at The World Ballet Festival in Tokyo, with frequent partner Roberto Bolle. Her partners have also included Carlos Acosta, Marcelo Gomes, Massimo Murru, Laurent Hilaire, Federico Bonelli, Robert Tewsley, Guillaume Cote, Zdenek Konvalina, Jason Reilly, Evan McKie and Steven McRae.

In 2000, Ms. Hodgkinson was nominated for the prestigious Prix Benois de la Danse for her role as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. In 2000 and 2001, Dance Europe voted her Best Performance by a Female Dancer for her interpretation of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and for Summer in The Four Seasons.

Ms. Hodgkinson has graced the covers of Dance Magazine and Dance International Magazine and has been featured in various fashion publications including; Vanity Fair, Lucky, W, GQ Italia, ELLE, NUVO, Flare and FASHION. She has worked with such noted photographers as Michael Thompson(GAP Holiday Campaign), Febrizio Ferri(GQ Italia), Howard Schatz, Nick Krasnaii, Christopher Wahl, Max Abadian, Sian Richards and Cylla von Tiedemann.

Ms. Hodgkinson’s film credits include the title role in the film Roxana, based on the novel by Daniel Defoe, the title role in The Firebird, The Four Seasons (starring in Summer), A Dancer’s Story-50 Years of The National Ballet of Canada ( dancing The Sleeping Beauty pas de deux ), and a featured role in The Rings of Saturn, directed by Moze Mossanen. She appeared as Margot Fonteyn in the Bravo! TV docudrama, Nureyev and made a guest appearance on the premiere of the Canadian comedy television series Baxter.