Elza Leimane

Last updated
Elza Leimane- Martinova
Born (1984-07-02) 2 July 1984 (age 38)
OccupationBallet dancer
Partner(s)Raimonds Martinovs
Parent(s) Aivars Leimanis

Elza Leimane (born 2 July 1984) is a Latvian ballet dancer. She graduated from the Riga Choreography School in 2001 and has been a member of the Latvian National Ballet Company since her graduation. She has been a principal dancer with the company since 2004. Elza has had additional ballet training from the Paris Conservatoire (1999), Anaheim Ballet summer courses, USA (1999), International Batrolin Ballet seminar (2002 and 2003), Vienna Conservatory summer courses (2000), the St Petersburg Ballet Company, Maryinsky Theatre and Hamburg Ballet. She was a member of the European Youth Ballet in 2000, 2001 and 2004.

Contents

Elza comes from a very talented family, her grandmother is the Latvian actress Baiba Indriksone, who at the age of 75 is still performing at the National Theatre. Her grandfather was a film director and her parents were both dancers at the Latvian National Ballet. For over ten years her father Aivars Leimanis has been the Artistic Director of Latvia's National Ballet. [1]

She has danced a wide variety of roles such as Kitri in Don Quixote, the title role in Giselle, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Gulnara in Le Corsaire, Marquise de Mereuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Katarina in Taming of the Shrew.

She has toured extensively in Norway, Germany, France, Russia, Finland, England, Italy, Croatia, Israel, Portugal and Spain. She has been involved in the multimedia charity project, Underwater Photo Ballet and was a model for Kondrašins Personal Calendar in 2007.

Awards

Elza has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Latvian Culture Ministry Award (1998, 1999), the Aldaris Prize 'Dancer of the year 2005' and the Theatre Prize 'Best Dancer in principal roles 2007'. She has also participated in the following international competitions:

Personal life

For four years,[ when? ] Elza's dancing partner and partner has been Raimonds Martinovs, a fellow Latvian dancer.

Related Research Articles

Karen Alexandria Kain is a Canadian former ballet dancer, and was the artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada from 2005 - 2021.

Chan Hon Goh, C.M. D.Litt, is a Chinese-born Canadian ballerina. Goh was most notably a principal dancer with The National Ballet of Canada before going on to become a published author, director, teacher, executive producer and entrepreneur.

Alina Cojocaru Romanian ballet dancer

Alina Cojocaru is a Romanian ballet dancer. She was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet and a lead principal with the English National Ballet.

Sylvie Guillem French ballet dancer (b. 1965)

Sylvie Guillem is a French ballet dancer. Guillem was the top-ranking female dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet from 1984 to 1989, before becoming a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London. She has performed contemporary dance as an Associate Artist of London's Sadler's Wells Theatre. Her most notable performances have included those in Giselle and in Rudolf Nureyev's stagings of Swan Lake and Don Quixote. In November 2014, she announced her retirement from the stage in 2015.

Tamara Rojo Spanish ballet dancer

Tamara Rojo CBE is a Spanish ballet dancer. She is the English National Ballet's artistic director (2012–2022) and a lead principal dancer with the company. She was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet. She will become the artistic director of San Francisco Ballet in late 2022.

Julie Kent (dancer) American ballet dancer

Julie Kent is an American ballet dancer; she was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre from 1993 to June 2015. In 2016, she was named the artistic director of The Washington Ballet.

Vladimir Malakhov is a Ukrainian ballet dancer who was the artistic director of the Staatsballett Berlin from its founding in 2004 until 2014. He is a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre.

Ekaterina Maximova Russian ballet dancer

Ekaterina Sergeevna Maximova was a great Soviet and Russian ballerina of the second part of the 20th century who had international recognition and fame. She was a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre for 30 years, a ballet pedagogue, People's Artist of the USSR and Russian Federation, winner of international ballet competitions, Laureate of many prestigious International and Russian awards, a professor in GITIS, Honorary professor at the Moscow State University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, and an Executive Committee member of the Russian Center of Counseil International De La Danse, UNESCO

Xiomara Reyes is a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. After retiring from performing she was appointed the Head of School of The Washington Ballet School.

Katherine Healy American actress

Katherine Healy is an American former principal ballerina and actress who also had a professional performing career in figure skating.

Prix de Lausanne

The Prix de Lausanne is an international dance competition held annually in Lausanne, Switzerland. The competition is for young dancers seeking to pursue a professional career in classical ballet, and many former prize winners of the competition are now leading stars with major ballet companies around the world. The competition is managed by a non-profit foundation organised by the Fondation en faveur de l'Art chorégraphique and is maintained by various sponsors, patrons and donors.

Maria Kochetkova Russian ballet dancer

Maria Olegovna Kochetkova is a Russian ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet between 2007 and 2018, and with the American Ballet Theatre between 2015 and 2017. After that, she became a freelance dancer for several years, before joining the Finnish National Ballet in the 2020/21 season.

Irek Dzhavdatovich Mukhamedov OBE, is a Soviet-born British ballet dancer of Tatar origin who has danced with the Bolshoi Ballet and the Royal Ballet. Born in Kazan, he trained at the Moscow Choreographic Institute under the guidance of Alexander Prokofiev between 1970 and 1978. Upon graduation, he joined the Classical Ballet Company, where he spent three years touring around the world. It was with this company that he first danced Romeo, a role that was to become one of his most acclaimed. In 1981 he won the Grand Prix and gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow and was immediately invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet as a principal dancer, where he not only became Grigorovich's favourite danseur but went to become the youngest man ever to dance the leading role in Spartacus.

Evgenia Obraztsova Russian ballerina (born 1984)

Evgenia Viktorovna Obraztsova is a Russian ballerina. She is a prima ballerina with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, and with the Mariinsky Ballet.

Ji-young Kim South Korean prima ballerina (born 1978)

Ji-young Kim is a South Korean prima ballerina and is currently a principal dancer with the Korea National Ballet (KNB) in Seoul, South Korea.

Eglė Špokaitė Lithuanian ballet dancer

Eglė Špokaitė is a Lithuanian ballet dancer, most notably a Principal Ballerina for the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (1989–2011) and the only ballet dancer on the List of Famous Lithuanians. She co-founded the Egle Špokaitė Ballet School in Vilnius, Lithuania (2008), where she also served as artistic director. In the United States, she founded the Ballet Institute of San Diego dance school (2016). Špokaitė is also a choreographer, actress, and public speaker. She's the winner of the Lithuanian National Prize, as well as numerous other awards and honors. She lives and works between San Diego, CA and Vilnius.

Melissa Hamilton Northern Irish ballet dancer

Melissa Hamilton is a Northern Irish ballet dancer and a First Soloist with the Royal Ballet, London.

Yosvani Ramos Cuban ballet dancer (born 1979)

Yosvani Ramos is a Cuban ballet dancer. He danced with the English National Ballet for nine years, five as a principal dancer, before joining The Australian Ballet as a principal artist in January 2008, where he remained until April 2013. He joined Cincinnati Ballet as a principal dancer in August 2014 where he remained until the end of that season - May 2015. He is currently contracted to Colorado Ballet in Denver as a principal dancer, having commenced in August 2015.

Yuka Ebihara Japanese ballet dancer

Yuka Ebihara is a Japanese ballet dancer. Since September 2011, she has been engaged with Warsaw’s Teatr Wielki. Since September 2013, she became a first soloist, and since January 2020 she is a principal dancer of the Polish National Ballet.

Frances Chung is a Canadian ballet dancer. She is currently a principal dancer at the San Francisco Ballet.

References

  1. Medene, Larisa. "A day in the life of a Prima Ballerina, Elza Leimane". City Paper. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2008-05-19.