Yosvani Ramos
Yosvani Ramos (born Yosvani Sabdiel Ramos Fontes on 23 June 1979) 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. Early life and training. Ramos was born to Juan  Ramos Barba and Gisela Fontes Lopez in Camagüey, Cuba. He studied dance at the Vocational School of Arts there from 1989, and in 1994 won the gold medal at the Vignale Festival of Dance. He was then admitted to study ballet at the Cuban National Ballet School under the direction of Ramona de Sáa, graduating in 1997. Professional ballet career. In September 1997 Ramos joined the Jeune Ballet de France, a French touring company. Started by Robert Berthier with the assistance of Rosella Hightower, the dancers trained for three months and toured for nine - a Professional Year type of training . Ramos remained with the company for two years, leaving in April 1999 for the Paris Opera Ballet. He performed Nureyev's Swan Lake as a surnuméraire (extra member of the corps de ballet). Ramos was invited to join English National Ballet as a soloist in August 1999 by Derek Deane, and was promoted to senior soloist in 2000, then principal in 2003 after a performance of Coppélia at the Sadler's Wells Theatre. The Australian Ballet had only two male principals at the end of 2007, and artistic director David McAllister invited Ramos to join the company as a principal  artist from February 2008. He also had many opportunities to perform as a guest artist outside Australia, frequently taking The Australian Ballet's Leanne Stojmenov as his partner. Ramos left The Australian Ballet in April 2013. After leaving The Australian Ballet, Ramos danced around the world on a freelance basis. He debuted as James in "La Sylphide" with Bangkok City Ballet in Thailand in July 2013 and also performed at the 18th International Ballet Festival in Miami in September 2013. He spent the 2014-15 season with Cincinnati Ballet as a principal dancer, then joined Colorado Ballet as a principal  dancer for the 2015-16 season. He remained in Denver for the 2016-17 season, but during rehearsals for "The Nutcracker" in November 2016, tore an Achilles tendon. By June 2017, after surgery and intensive rehabilitation, he was back in the studio, anticipating a return to the stage early in the 2017-18 season. Ramos duly returned to the stage in "Dracula" in October 2017. Ten years after leaving English National Ballet, Ramos worked with his former artistic director Derek Deane again, reprising the role of Romeo in Deane's "Romeo and Juliet", which Deane set on Colorado Ballet. In  addition to freelancing for a time, Ramos has performed as a guest with companies including Staatstheater Wiesbaden (Germany), HNK Split Ballet (Croatia), Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele (Palermo, Italy), Compañía Nacional de Danza (Mexico), and Ballet de Monterrey (Mexico). Companies and roles. After graduating from the Cuban national school, Ramos toured with the Jeune Ballet de France, both domestically and internationally - Africa, South America, and St Petersburg, Russia. The company performed classical excerpts and commissioned contemporary works. Ramos' roles included pas de deux from "La Fille mal Gardée", "Harlequinade", "Le Corsaire", "Flower Festival at Genzano", "The Flames of Paris", "Stars and  Stripes", "Don Quixote", and "Variations for Four". As a surnuméraire (short term contract corps de ballet member) with Paris Opera Ballet, Ramos danced in Nureyev's "Swan Lake". English National Ballet. At the invitation of Derek Deane, Ramos joined English National Ballet as a soloist, eventually being promoted to principal in 2003. Roles with ENB included: The Australian Ballet. Invited to join the company as a principal, Ramos expanded his repertoire to include and continued to dance May 2013 until August 2014. After his last performance as Basilio in Rudolf Nureyev's "Don Quixote" with The Australian Ballet on April  24, 2013, Ramos spent some time dancing freelance all over the world. He made his debut as James in August Bournonville's "La Sylphíde" with Bangkok City Ballet in Thailand in July 2013, danced "Giselle" second act pas de deux and Lizzie MacKenzie's "Adherence.Process" at the International Ballet Festival in Miami, USA in September 2013, guested as the Prince in "The Nutcracker" with various companies in the USA in December 2013 and performed in ballet galas in London, Cork, Denver and Vienna as well as teaching in England and the USA. Television and film performances. The Poet in  Les Sylphides, included in The Australian Ballet's triple bill "Firebird and Other Legends".