Carlos Lopez Named Ballet Master with American Ballet Theatre

Carlos Lopez, a former Soloist with American Ballet Theatre, has been named to the position of Ballet Master with the Company effective August 1, 2016. It was announced today by Kevin McKenzie, ABT Artistic Director.

Carlos Lopez is currently a Ballet Master for the ABT Studio Company and a Company teacher at ABT. He began his professional career at the Victor Ullate Ballet in his native country, Spain and performed as a principal dancer for six years. Some of his repertory included leading roles in Don Quixote, Giselle, Theme and Variations, Allegro Brillante, Paquita, Les Sylphides and ballets by Maurice Bejart, Rudi Van Dantzig and Hans Van Manen. With this company he toured to Argentina, Belgium, Cuba, England, Germany, Italy and the United States.

Lopez joined American Ballet Theatre in 2001 and was promoted to Soloist in 2003. His repertory with the Company included Iago in Othello, The Bronze Idol in La Bayadère, Mercutio and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, the Nutcracker-Prince in The Nutcracker, Birbanto in Le Corsaire, Puck in The Dream, Benno in Swan Lake, the second sailor in Fancy Free, Alain in La Fille mal gardée,Eros in Sylvia, the Lead Pontevedrian dancer in The Merry Widow, peasant pas de deux in Giselle, the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty and The Joker in Jeu de Cartes. He also performed roles in Twyla Tharp's In the Upper Room, Kurt Jooss' The Green Table, Paul Taylor's Company B and George Balanchine's Theme and Variations. In 1996, Lopez won the Silver Medal at the Paris International Ballet Competition and in 2004, he was awarded the Les Etoiles de Ballet 2000 Prize in Cannes.

Lopez is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher in the ABT National Training Curriculum. He joined the faculty of the ABT Studio Company in 2013. He has taught on the faculty of the ABT Summer Intensives and participated in ABT's Royal Ballet School exchanges in London, Ibstage Barcelona and YoungArts in Miami. Lopez was a member of the jury at the 2015 Youth America Grand Prix.