Jolinda Menendez

Teacher of Dance (Ballet)

Jolinda Menendez

As a former ballerina with American Ballet Theatre, Ms. Menendez has performed leading roles in La Bayadere, Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Les Sylphides, The Firebird, Raymonda Act III, and other repertoire by choreographers such as Alvin Ailey, Agnes de Mille, Kenneth MacMillan and Glen Tetley. Lewis Segal of the L.A. Times said: “Jolinda’s performance of ‘The Dying Swan’ was dance poetry - a quality Pavlova’s name has always symbolized - you could understand why Natalia Makarova has championed her as a major artist.” Anna Kisselgoff of the New York Times reviewed one of her Metropolitan Opera performances saying “It is hard to imagine two dancers reaching so deeply into the emotional and lyrical core of Swan Lake unless one brings back memories of Fonteyn & Nureyev.” Following ABT she was Principal Ballerina with the Bavarian National Ballet in Munich, Germany, where she added to her repertoire John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet, Eugene Onegin and Taming of the Shrew, John Neumeier's Nutcracker, Birgit Cullberg's Miss Julie, and Balanchine's Apollo and Divertimento No. 15. She has been a frequent guest artist in Europe, Canada, Australia, and South Africa. She has taught at American Ballet Theatre's Summer Intensive programs across the country, at the Royal Ballet School in London, the John Cranko Schule in Stuttgart, Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto, and the Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy. She is also a frequent teacher with companies in Europe including the Scottish Ballet, Ballet Ireland and the Croatian National Ballet. Ms. Menendez is a producer and an Emmy-Nominated dance documentary film director – her films are streamed online at www.APerfectBalance.nyc

Courses

Ballet