Agnes Oaks | |
|---|---|
 Oaks in 2013 | |
| Born | Age Oks 29 May 1970 Vändra, Estonia |
| Spouse | Thomas Edur |
| Children | 1 |
| Career | |
| Former groups | English National Ballet Birmingham Royal Ballet Estonian National Ballet |
Age Oks CBE (born 29 May 1970) [1] known professionally as Agnes Oaks, is an Estonian former ballet dancer, who was a principal dancer with English National Ballet.
Age Oks was born in Vändra to an Estonian father, Juhan Oks, and a Russian mother, Valentina Georgevna Trofimova Oks. [1] She started ballet at age 10, and her mother sent her to audition for the Estonian State Ballet School, and started training there. She later entered the Bolshoi Ballet School. [2]
Oks first danced with the Estonian National Ballet. In 1990, after winning the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi with her on-and-off-stage partner Thomas Edur, Ivan Nagy, then-artistic director of English National Ballet invited the two to move to London to join the company as principal dancers, and she anglicised her stage name. [3] [4] The two then danced with the Birmingham Royal Ballet between 1996 and 1997, then went freelance but remained with the English National Ballet as principal guest artists. [1]
For Wayne McGregor's 2 Human, Oaks was nominated for the Prix Benois de la Danse, [5] and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance with Edur. [6]
In 2009, Oaks retired from dancing. She said she delayed her retirement after she learned ENB would debut Kenneth MacMillan's Manon . She then relocated to Tallinn, as Edur was named artistic director of the Estonian National Ballet. [7] [8]
Oaks is a recipient Order of the White Star, 3rd Class. [9] In 2010, she was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire. [10]
Oaks was married to Thomas Edur, a fellow Estonian principal at ENB and later the artistic director of Estonian National Ballet. [7] They have a daughter, born in 2010. [10]
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