Víctor Ullate

Who is Víctor Ullate?

Víctor Ullate is a dancer, choreographer and ballet director.

Ullate trained with María de Avila and Rosella Hightower. He started his professional dancing life wihth Antonio Ruiz Soler's company in 1962 before joining Maurice Béjart's Ballet as a principal three years later. He remained there for fourteen years during which he created roles in Béjart's Ni fleurs, Ni couronnes, Offrande chorégraphique, Nijinsky, Clown de Dieu, Golestan, and I trionfi di Petrarca.

In 1979 he was invited by the Spanish Ministry of Culture to form a new national ballet company, the Ballet Nacional de España. Later on, in 1990, when the company was reorganized and the current name adopted, Nacho Duato was appointed artistic director.

Ullate founded his own school in 1983 which taught a rigorous academic technique and often had guest teachers from Russia or Cuba. He started his now famous ballet company, Ballet de Victor Ullate in 1988 and started choreographing. Their repertoire includes works by Balanchine, van Manen, Nils Christe, Jan Linkens, and Micha van Hoecke, as well as contemporary ballets by Ullate himself.