Zenaida Yanowsky

Biography

Spanish Nationality, she trained with Carmen Robles and Anatol Yanowsky in Gran Canaria. After winning a silver medal at Varna in 1991 she joined Paris Opera Ballet. Further awards included gold medals at the 1993 European Young Dancers Competition and the 1994 Jackson competition.

She joined the Royal Ballet in 1994 and became Principal in 2001. Her many roles include Odette/Odile (Swan Lake), Sylvia, Sugar Plum Fairy (Nutcracker),Marguerite, Manon, Natalia Petrovna (A Month in the Country) and other Principal roles in MacMillan, Ashton, Balanchine and Robins ballets. She's also created the roles of The Queen of Hearts (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) and Paulina (The Winter’s Tale) for Christopher Wheeldon and Will Tuckett’s Elizabeth which won her the National Critics award for Best Dancer 2017. She has worked and created roles for numerous choreographers including Will Tuckett, Christopher Wheeldon, William Forsyth, Mats Ek, Jiri Kylian, Kim Brandstrup, Alexei Ratmansky, Ashley Page, Cathy Marston, Wayne McGregor, Jonathan Watkins, Ed Liang, Yury Yanowsky, Javier de Frutos, Shioban Davies among many others. Yanowsky features in Duet and The Sandman, for Channel 4, the BBC’s Riot at the Rite and Leda and the Swan for Deloitte Ignite 14. She has collaborated with Claire Barclays and Will Tuckett on an installation in the Whitechapel Gallery, and danced in a short film for the Matisse Cut-Outs exhibition at Tate Modern. She is also part of "52 portrait" by Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion for Saddler's Wells.

Yanowsky retired as a dancer in 2018 and now coached the future generation of dancers.