Laura Morera

Spanish ballet dancer

Laura Morera
Morera at the curtain call of MacMillan's Mayerling
Education	Royal Ballet School
Occupation	Ballet dancer
Years active	1995-present
Spouse	Justin Meissner
Career
Current group	The Royal Ballet

Laura Morera is a Spanish ballet dancer who was a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet until her retirement in 2023.

Early life and training

Morera was born in Madrid.^[1] She started attending the Royal Academy of Dance's summer programme in London at the age of seven. When she was 10, she auditioned for The Royal Ballet School by dancing a solo from Paquita in pointe shoes. She graduated in 1995.^[2]

Career

Morera joined The Royal Ballet after graduating from the school. She became a First Artist in 1998, Soloist in 1999, First Soloist in 2002 and Principal Dancer in 2007.^[1] She has performed lead roles in ballets such as, the titular role in Giselle, the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Natalia Petrovna in Ashton's A Month in the Country, the Gypsy Girl in The Two Pigeons, MacMillan's Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, the title role in Manon, Mary Vetsera in Mayerling, the title role in Anastasia and Tatiana in Cranko's Onegin.^[3]^[4] She won the 2015 Critics' Circle National Dance Award for her performance as Lise in Ashton's La Fille mal gardée^[5] and the 2023 National Dance Award for Best Female Dancer.^[6]

Outside of the company, Morera and her husband and former Royal Ballet dancer Justin Meissner have a group named Dance Tour International which has held gala and workshops in different countries.^[3]

Selected repertoire

Morera's repertoire with the Royal Ballet includes:^[1]

Lise in La Fille mal gardée
The titular role in Anastasia
Diana in Sylvia
Gypsy Girl in The Two Pigeons
Effie in La Sylphide
Masha and Irena in Winter Dreams
Tatiana in Onegin
The titular role in Giselle
Kitri and Mercedes in Don Quixote
Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker
Gamzatti in La Bayadère
The title role and Lescaut’s Mistress in Manon
Mary Vetsera, Mitzi Caspar and Marie Larisch in Mayerling
The Queen of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Paulina in The Winter’s Tale
Titania in The Dream
Wife in The Concert

Created roles

Rushes – Fragments of a Lost Story
'See, even Night herself is here’ pas de deux
Qualia
Of Mozart
Asphodel Meadows
Sweet Violets
Hansel and Gretel
The Age of Anxiety
Electric Counterpoint
Frankenstein
Tryst
Mama Elena in Like Water for Chocolate^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Laura Morera". Royal Opera House. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
^ Willis, Margaret (12 February 2016). "Interview – Laura Morera – Principal, The Royal Ballet". DanceTabs.
^ ^a ^b Parry, Jann (22 April 2015). "Laura Morera & Vadim Muntagirov – Royal Ballet Principals, on La Fille mal gardée". Dancetabs.
^ Guerreiro, Teresa (8 December 2018). "Laura Morera's Winter Dreams". Cultural Whisperer.
^ "2015 National Dance Awards – Winners Announced". DanceTabs. 25 January 2016.
^ Murray, Hannah (7 June 2023). "National Dance Awards 2023 - The Royal Ballet School".
^ "Like Water for Chocolate". American Ballet Theatre. Retrieved 25 June 2024.