Ballet Master

Roberto Almaguer

Mr. Almaguer is a native from Cuba, where he studied and danced extensively with the National Ballet and other companies.

Under the direction of world-renowned Cuban ballerina Alicia Alonso, Mr. Almaguer has performed in some of the most important venues in Latin America and Europe.
In 1989 he obtained the gold medal in the International ballet Competition in Peru.
In 1993 he defected to America and became a principal dancer with Cleveland San Jose ballet, Joffrey ballet of Chicago and performing extensively as a guest artist with many other American and foreign companies.
Los Angeles became the new residence for Mr. Almaguer in 1998 when he joined the staff of Le Studio/ Dance Corps in Pasadena until 2000.

Mr. Almaguer has been guest teachers, invited by many of the major ballet schools in the Los Angeles area and has become a credited teacher for the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts.

In 2000 the Los Angeles Opera invited Mr. Almaguer to dance in Placido Domingo’s production of Queen of Spades, and he was featured artist in La Traviatta.
Los Angeles Opera and Teatro Real of Madrid, Spain have invited Mr. Almaguer to choreograph the LA Opera’s production of Queen of Spades performed by the Worldwide recognized Spanish company with great success in April/June 2004.

In the summer of 2003, Mr. Almaguer went to Italy invited by the dance school of the city of Lecco to teach in the summer intensive course of such school and participated as a guess artist at the Gala of the stars, an event that brought many of the world’s finest dancers to a showcase sponsored by the city and school of Lecco, Italy.
In 2005, Mr. Almaguer was invited to teach Master classes at the Asociacion de Profesionales de la Danza in Madrid, Spain.

During the Youth America Grand Prix competition of 2005 some of the most talented students from America and Asia where reuntited and In this competitor, Mr. Almaguer participated as a choreographer. His choreography was awarded in the person of Katherine Hammer who became the winner of the Competition.

The extensive background of Mr. Almaguer’s dancing repertoire includes most of the principal ballets and parts of the classical and traditional ballets such as Giselle, Coppelia, La Fille mal gardee, Le Corsair, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Paquita, Swan Lake, etc. He has also performed in many of Mr. Balanchine’s ballets like Tarantella, Who cares, Allegro brilliant, and Midsummer night’s dream. His repertoire includes also pieces by world-renowned choreographers such as Alberto Alonso, George Leffebre, Alberto Mendez, Agnes de Miles, Alicia Alonso, Jiri Killian, William Soleau, Jimmy Gammonet, Ann Marie De Angelo and Vicente Nebrada.

Since 2006, Mr. Almaguer joined the staff of The Kaatsbaan International Ballet Program under the direction of Kevin Mc. Kenzie, Artistic Director of ABT, and Martine Van Hammel, former Prima ballerina of ABT. His works with the Extreme Ballet program at such institution includes "Swing it Up Babe" as a revised work suited for dancers of high dancing caliber,Tarantella: also a revised work inspired on Balanchine’s Pas de Deux, and "Carmina Burana", specifically choreographed for the program in 2007.
Mr. Almaguer has been a Master Teacher by invitation of the Shang Hai Ballet in 2007. This company has extended an invitation for one month in March 2008 to Mr. Almaguer as a Guest Master teacher in Shang Hai.

At the present time Almaguer is working with young dancers to help them reach professional ballet companies at the end of their training process.

California DanceArts
Mr. Almaguer brings his extensive expertise to the California DanceArts program, guiding young dancers as they work to develop their technique. His professional dance experience and current work with major ballet schools and companies around the world make him a teacher uniquely qualified to prepare dancers for a career in the professional dance world.