Coach for the Pre-professional Programme
Spanish dancer Zenaida Yanowsky comes from a family of dancers. She trained with Carmen Robles and Anatol Yanowsky at Centro Choreografico in Gran Canaria. After after being a finalist in the Pix de Lausanne and 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 gold again in the 1994 Jackson International Ballet Competition.
Yanowsky joined The Royal Ballet as a First Artist in 1994 and was promoted to Principal in 2001. Her many roles include Odette/Odile (Swan Lake), Sylvia, Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Marguerite (Marguerite and Armand), Manon, Natalia Petrovna (A Month in the Country) and Principal roles in Balanchine and Robins ballets. She has created the roles of The Queen of Hearts (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) and Paulina (The Winter’s Tale) for Christopher Wheeldon. Also in Will Tuckett’s Elizabeth where she was awarded best dancer by the Critics Dance Awards.
She has worked and created roles for numerous choreographers including Will Tuckett, Christopher Wheeldon, Christopher Bruce, Liam Scarlett, Kim Brandstrup, Ashley Page, Mats Ek, Jiri Kylian, William Forsyth, Twyla Tharp, Wayne McGregor, Nacho Duato, Flemming Flindt, Jonathan Watkins, Ed Liang, Yury Yanowsky, Alexei Ratmansky, Siobhan Davies, Glen Tetley and Cathy Marston amongst others.
Yanowsky has danced in two short dance films, Duet and The Sandman, for Channel 4. She also features on the BBC’s drama documentary Riot at the Rite as The Chosen One. She filmed Leda and the Swan for Deloitte Ignite 14, which was also showed in the grand opening of the Royal Opera House’s renovation.
Zenaida is part of 52 portrait by Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion for Sadler’s Wells featuring 52 artist/dancers.
She has collaborated with Claire Barclays and Will Tuckett on an installation in the Whitechapel Gallery, and danced in a short film directed by Tuckett for the Matisse cut-outs exhibition at Tate Modern.
She has won best dancer award at the National Dance Awards in 2016 and was nominated for an Olivier Award in 2017.
She retired from the stage in 2018 and now teaches and coaches in numerous international dance companies. Zenaida joined The Royal Ballet School as Coach for the Pre-professional Programme in 2021.