Sonia Rodriguez

Who is Sonia Rodriguez?

Sonia Rodriguez is a Canadian ballet dancer.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, she moved to Madrid, Spain, at age five. Rodriguez received dance training there with Pedro de la Cruz and also at the Princess Grace Academy in Monaco. In 1989, at an international competition in Capri, Rodriguez won the Enrico Cecchetti award, and the following year she returned to Canada to join the National Ballet of Canada.

Rodriguez was promoted to second soloist in 1995 and that year she performed Rum and Cola Cola in the company premiere of Paul Taylor's "Company B". She returned to this role in front of over 30,000 people during the National Ballet of Canada's March 1996 performance at a Toronto Raptors/Orlando Magic basketball game at Skydome. Also in 1995, Rodriguez performed the balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet and the pas de deux from Sylvia at an international ballet gala in Madrid.

Rodriguez was promoted to first soloist in 1997 and danced the lead role in the Canadian premiere of The Red Shoes in the Karen Kain Farewell Tour. Rodriguez became a principal dancer in 2000 and in 2005, Suzanne Farrell chose her to dance the lead role of Dulcinea in the world premiere of her re-staging of George Balanchine's Don Quixote at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.