Arionel Vargas

Arionel was born in Cuba. He trained with Laura Alonso and Ivan Monreal at the National Ballet School of Cuba. Arionel's career began with Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet, here he danced a variety of Balanchine repertoire including Serenade, Ballo della Regina, Allegro Brillante and Concerto Barocco. While in Canada Arionel was also noted for his roles in Jiri Kylian's Symphony in D and John Neumeier's Nutcracker, Rudi van Dantzig's Romeo & Juliet and Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty by Galina Yordanova. Arionel joined English National Ballet as Principal in 2004 and has danced the principal roles in all the major Classical repertoire, including Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Nureyev's Romeo & Juliet, and Giselle with Albrecht being one of Arionel's favourite roles. He has recently danced both Lescaut and Des Grieux in Kenneth MacMillan's Manon. Arionel's achievements include winning the gold medal in Brazil's International Ballet Competition in 1994 and winning gold in the New York International Ballet Competition in 1996. More recently Arionel was seen dancing in Carlos Acosta and friends in Valencia, and in the London Coliseum. Arionel has also guested in venues around the world, often performing with international ballet star Evelyn Hart. He recently performed Wayne Eagling's Duet at the Prague International Festival with English National Ballet's star dancer Daria Klimentová and in December 2009 he performed with Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro with Roberta Marques in The Nutcraker. In 2011 appeared at the Opera House in Georgia in Giselle and Don Quixote and resent engagements include Makarova's Bayadre with Julio Boca Company and Carmen in Italy with Luciano Cannito.