We were lucky to catch up with Nerea Barrondo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nerea, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I started taking dance lessons at the age of 3 but it wasn’t until I was 11 that I decided I wanted to become a professional ballet dancer. You need to decide wether you want to be a dancer from an early age because the career starts early and it doesn’t last long. I knew ballet was my passion, I loved playing roles and dancing on stage.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born in the Basque Country and moved to Moscow at the age of 14 to start my journey as a ballet student in a prestigious ballet school, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. I graduated at the age of 18 and had my first payed job with a touring Russian company. After the tour I came to the US to continue my professional career. The first company I worked for in the US was Gelsey Kirkland Ballet in New York City. It was a dream to rehearse and learn from legendary coaches like Ms. Kirkland, Ms. Solovieva, Ms. Polonskaya and Mr. Levitsky. They truly helped me transition from the academy life to my professional career. They gave me the opportunity to perform my first full length ballets as a principal dancer. I continued my career in New Jersey where I worked at Roxey Ballet. We did a lot of outreach performances where we performed for people who didn’t have access to theaters, in schools and hospitals. One of the most meaningful experiences for me was the collaboration we did with breast cancer survivors in the We vs. C project. It was a true honor to tell their stories through our dance and learn from their life experiences. In 2019 I moved to Texas and joined Ballet Frontier of Texas. I had the pleasure to work with the inspiring Ms. Enrica, Ms. Lainey and Mr. Chung Lin. I had the great opportunity to debut in many different roles including my premier as Princess Aurora in the Sleeping Beauty. Although we had to deal with the Covid outbreak our company was able to continue to put together high quality performances with all the required safety measures. After dancing in Texas for 3 season I moved to California where I will continue my journey at State Street Ballet, I’m very excited to begin my first season with this wonderful company this September. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication and passion to be able to become a professional dancer and to keep going no matter the obstacles you may find on the way. I have also become a Youtuber. In my channel (Nereasan Channel) I share my daily life as a pro ballet dancer. I upload performance vlogs, daily life videos and useful information about my beloved career. I love having a platform where I can introduce my passion to people who may not know about it and also talk about some of the issues and difficulties the ballet world has. Hearing that the viewers fell in love with ballet after watching my videos or hearing that I have helped them in some way is one of the most fulfilling things form me.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I would say that the most rewarding thing for me as an artist is bringing joy to the audience. Watching their reaction after a performance: the happy faces, the tears and their wonderful comments are what makes me keep going.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

It hasn’t been easy for me in this career due to my hight. I’m a petite dancer in a ballet world that looks at taller dancers as the “ideal type”. I knew from a young age that this will be a handicap for me but my passion was too big to stop it. I decided to give it a try when I moved to Madrid at the age of 13 and although I had to experience many difficulties along they way I’m very happy where I’m at now.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerea.barrondo/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqI1zld-YlDGD57BKBqxWOw

Image Credits
Male dancer: Kaito Yamamoto