Gonzalo Garcia is a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. Born in Zaragoza, Spain, Mr. Garcia began studying ballet at the age of eight at Maria Avila’s school. In 1995, he attended the summer session at San Francisco Ballet School. Following this session, Mr. Garcia participated in the Prix de Lausanne, becoming the youngest dancer to receive a gold medal. He then returned to the School to resume his studies and was selected by Helgi Tomasson, Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet, to perform in a world premiere ballet created especially for the 1996 Spring Student Showcase. Mr. Garcia joined San Francisco Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in March 1998. In 2000, he was promoted to soloist, and in 2002 to principal dancer. Mr. Garcia was invited to perform Balanchine’s Ballo della Reginawith New York City Ballet as part of the Company’s Balanchine Centennial Celebration in 2004. Mr. Garcia joined New York City Ballet in October of 2007 as a principal dancer.
At San Francisco Ballet, Mr. Garcia’s featured roles included Balanchine’sApollo, The Four Temperaments, “Rubies” from Jewels, Prodigal Son, Square Dance, Symphony in C, Tarantella, and Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux; William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude; Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, Dybbuk, Fanfare, Glass Pieces, and Other Dances; Helgi Tomasson’s Giselle (Albrecht, Pas de Cinq), Romeo and Juliet (Romeo, Benvolio), The Sleeping Beauty (Bluebird, Pas de Six), Swan Lake (Prince Siegfried, Pas de Trois, Neopolitan), and Mr. Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov’sDon Quixote (Basilio); and Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia and There Where She Loved.
In addition, Mr. Garcia created the roles of Nutcracker Prince in Mr. Tomasson’s Nutcracker and Aminta in Mark Morris’s Sylvia, and originated a role in Mr. Wheeldon’s Continuum.
Mr. Tomasson coached Mr. Garcia in Balanchine’s Divertimento from ‘Le Baiser de la Fée’ as part of the George Balanchine Foundation Video Archives.