Elza Leimane

Elza Leimane (born 2 July 1984) is a Latvian ballet dancer. She graduated from the in 2001 and has been a member of the since her graduation. She has been a principal dancer with the company since 2004. Elza has had additional ballet training from the Paris Conservatoire (1999), Anaheim Ballet summer courses, USA (1999), (2002 and 2003), Vienna Conservatory summer courses (2000), the , Maryinsky Theatre and Hamburg Ballet. She was a member of the in 2000, 2001 and 2004.

Elza comes from a very talented family, her grandmother is the famous Latvian actress , who at the age of 75 is still performing at the National Theatre. Her grandfather was a film director and her parents were both dancers at the Latvian National Ballet. For over ten years her father Aivars Leimanis has been the Artistic Director of Latvia's National Ballet.^[1]

She has danced a wide variety of roles such as Kitri in Don Quixote, the title role in Giselle, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Gulnara in Le Corsaire, Marquise de Mereuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Katarina in Taming of the Shrew.

She has toured extensively in Norway, Germany, France, Russia, Finland, England, Italy, Croatia, Israel, Portugal and Spain. She has been involved in the multimedia charity project, and was a model for in 2007.

Awards[]

Elza has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Latvian Culture Ministry Award (1998, 1999), the Aldaris Prize 'Dancer of the year 2005' and the Theatre Prize 'Best Dancer in principal roles 2007'. She has also participated in the following international competitions:

• (Budapest, 1998) - Best Young Dancer Prize and Djagilev Special Prize
• (Yalta, Ukraine, 1998) - bronze medal
• (1999) - 1st prize
• Eurovision Young Dancers (France, 1999) - finalist
• New York International Ballet Competition (2005) - finalist
• (2008) - silver medal

Personal life[]

For four years,^[when?] Elza's dancing partner and partner has been , a fellow Latvian dancer.

References[]

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