Born in France, Dorothée Gilbert trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School and currently is an Etoile with Paris Opera Ballet. She has danced principal roles in classical and modern repertoire, participated in numerous international ballet galas and helped create new works with José Martinez, Wayne McGregor and John Neumeier. 

Accolades include the 2002 Prix du public de l’AROP, 2004 Prix du Cercle Carpeaux, Prix Ballet 2000 in 2006, 2006 Prix Leonide Massine, Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 2014 and Best Actress Award in FESTiFRANCE BH 2018.

Born in Shanghai, China, Tan Yuan Yuan joined San Francisco Ballet in 1995 and became Principal Dancer in 1997.

She has danced principal roles in many classical ballets and ballets by Heigi Tomasson, Yuri Possokhov, George Balanchine and more. Tan danced in The Nutcracker on Public Broadcasting Service’s ‘Great Performances’.

Her accolades include being named ‘Asia’s Hero’ by Time (Asian edition) in 2004, 2013 Dance Magazine Award and 2014 Critics’ Circle National Dance Award, being named one of the world’s most influential Chinese people by Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV in 2015 and the Major Art Award from San Francisco, US in 2018.

©Chris Hardy

Born in Nagoya, Japan, Ako Kondo began ballet training at age three. She studied with The Royal Ballet, won Second Prize at the 2005 Japan Grand Prix and was awarded The Australian Ballet School Tuition Scholarship in 2007 at Youth American Grand Prix. Kondo toured with The Dancers Company in 2008 and joined The Australian Ballet in 2010. She was promoted to Principal Artist in April 2015, becoming their first Japanese Principal Artist. 

Her accolades include the 2018 Helpmann Award for Best Female Dancer, a 2017 Benois de la Danse nomination and the 2016 Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer.

Born in Manaus, Brazil, Marcelo Gomes studied at The HARID Conservatory. He joined American Ballet Theatre in 1997, was named Principal Dancer in 2002 and danced with the company for 20 years.

Gomes has danced in all classical ballets and performed lead roles and/or created roles in works by George Balanchine, Anthony Tudor, Kenneth MacMillian, Paul Taylor, Jiri Kylian, Nacho Duato and Alexei Ratmansky and more. He has guest performed with many renowned ballet companies worldwide. Accolades include the Hope Prize at the Prix de Lausanne in 1996, the Prix Benois de la Danse in 2008 and Dance Magazine’s ‘Dancer of the Year’ in 2016.

©Chris Mann

Born in Matanzas, Cuba, Osiel Gouneo trained at Cuban National Ballet School and joined Cuban National Ballet in 2008, becoming Principal Dancer in 2011. Afterwards, he danced with Norwegian National Ballet for three years and then joined Barvarian State Ballet as Principal Dancer in 2016. Gouneo also guest performs as a principal dancer with English National Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet and at numerous international dance festivals and galas. 

His accolades include gold medals at Cuban Grand Prix and Beijing International Ballet Competition, a silver medal at Varna International Ballet Competition and Best Newcomer at the Positano Awards.

Born in Juiz de Fora, Brazil, Vitor Luiz trained at The Royal Ballet School and danced with Birmingham Royal Ballet and Ballet of Rio de Janeiro before joining San Francisco Ballet as a Principal Dancer in 2009. He won an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Best Ensemble Performance in 2011 and has appeared as a guest artist with English National Ballet and at many international galas, performing major roles in almost every classical ballet and contemporary work. Luiz is currently an Assistant professor at Claire Trevor School of the Arts, University of California Irvine.

Born in Saskatchewan, Canada, Matthew Golding won the Youth America Grand Prix Ballet Competition and the Prix de Lausanne in 2002, then joined American Ballet Theatre in 2003. He was promoted to Principal Dancer of Dutch National Ballet in 2010, and danced as a Principal of The Royal Ballet during 2014-2017. He has guest performed with Bavarian State Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, The National Ballet of Canada, English National Ballet and more. His accolades include the Dutch Zwaan Award in 2010, the Alexandra Radius Prize in 2011 and nominations for the Prix Benois de la Danse in 2012.

©Erwin Olaf