Jenna Roberts is a retired Australian ballet dancer, formerly a principal dancer with Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB)

Biography

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Roberts was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, and trained at the Marie Walton-Mahon Dance Academy in Newcastle, Australia, and the Royal Ballet Upper School.[1] Joining Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2003, she quickly rose through the company.[1] In 2006 she starred as Juliet for the "Ballet Hoo!" project, a collaboration between BRB, Channel 4, the charity Youth at Risk and local authorities.[2] She suffered a setback after a severe injury in 2007, returning to achieve a promotion to company principal at the end of the 2011–12 season. Roberts has been acclaimed as a masterful Balanchine interpreter, credited for combining ethereal elegance with outstanding stamina to craft leading roles.[1] After her younger sister Callie Roberts joined the company the two siblings performed together in works including Cinderella.[3]

Roberts has recently created roles in a number of short ballets, working with the contemporary American choreographer Jessica Lang in Lyric Pieces, and dancing as the Fairy in Michael Corder's Le Baiser de la fée.[1] In 2014 The Observer reported that an "incandescent Jenna Roberts steals the show" in Alexander Whitley's new ballet Kin.[4]

Having retired from dancing, she now teaches Pilates, and she and husband Joseph Caley relocated to Australia in 2022, where Caley has become a principal artist with The Australian Ballet[5]

General repertory

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Ballet Role Choreographer
Agon Principal couple George Balanchine
Allegri diversi David Bintley
Apollo Terpsichore George Balanchine
Beauty and the Beast Belle David Bintley
Checkmate Ninette de Valois
Cinderella Summer David Bintley
Concerto pas de deux Kenneth MacMillan
Coppélia Swanilda's Friends and Prayer Peter Wright
The Dance House David Bintley
Dante Sonata Frederick Ashton
Daphnis and Chloë Chloë Frederick Ashton
Dumbarton Oaks Michael Kopisnki
E=mc² Mass David Bintley
Elite Syncopations Bethena Concert Waltz Kenneth MacMillan
La Fille mal gardée Lise's Friends Frederick Ashton
Five Tangos Hans van Manen
The Four Seasons Oliver Hindle
Giselle Harvest pas de deux David Bintley
Hobson's Choice Salvation Army David Bintley
Kin Alexander Whitley
The Lady and the Fool John Cranko
Lyric Pieces Jessica Lang
Monotones II Frederick Ashton
The Nutcracker Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Fairy Peter Wright
The Nutcracker Sweeties Chinoiserie David Bintley
The Orpheus Suite David Bintley
The Rite of Spring Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer (reconstruction)
Romeo and Juliet Juliet Kenneth MacMillan
Scènes de ballet Frederick Ashton
The Shakespeare Suite Juliet David Bintley
Solitaire Girl Kenneth MacMillan
The Sleeping Beauty Princess Aurora Peter Wright
The Sons of Horus David Bintley
Symphonic Variations Frederick Ashton
Symphony in Three Movements George Balanchine
The Two Pigeons Frederick Ashton
Western Symphony First movement George Balanchine

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Jenna Roberts", Birmingham Royal Ballet, retrieved 29 October 2015
  2. ^ Turner, Susan. "Our teen dancers not half Bard!", Birmingham Mail, 29 September 2006.
  3. ^ "Ballerinas following in their sisters' footsteps", The Birmingham Post, 22 November 2012
  4. ^ "Birmingham Royal Ballet triple bill review", The Observer, 27 April 2014
  5. ^ Lambert, Catherine (2022-07-18). "The life-changing moments that brought two dance recruits to Australia". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2022-11-17.