National Ballet of Canada Star Sonia Rodriquez Ends Her Career

Sonia Rodriguez, one of the most prominent dancers in the National Ballet of Canada, has announced the end of her career. Rodrigues has spent 32 years on stage and has played almost all significant roles in a stellar ballerina repertoire.

The Road to Success

Sonia Rodriguez’s life seems like a movie full of unexpected twists. She was born in Toronto to Spanish immigrant parents, who decided to leave the country when she was only five years old. They moved back to Spain. It was where little Sonia saw her first ballet – “Swan Lake.” The young girl was captivated by the romanticism and the beauty of it.

This is what made her decide to explore the world of ballet. However, things did not work out as planned. The girl’s first ballet teacher did not find her particularly talented and discouraged her from pursuing the ambition to become a ballerina.

However, Sonia refused to give up on her dream. She transferred to Madrid, where she became a student of the famous ballet teacher Pedro de la Cruz. Later, she moved to the Princess Grace Academy in Monaco.

However, things really took off for Sonia when she joined the Enrico Cecchetti Competition in Capri, Italy at the age of 16. The audience noticed the young dancer’s tremendous talent, and invitations to dance at different events started pouring.

Back to Toronto

One person played the biggest part in bringing Rodriguez to the National Ballet of Canada. Betty Oliphant, who was a member of the jury at the competition in Capri and co-founder of Canada’s National Ballet School, came back home with exciting news. She announced to Reid Anderson, who was recently appointed company artistic director, that the young talent would be a perfect addition to the National Ballet.

Shortly, an invitation followed, and Rodriguez did not think twice to accept it. Although she was thrilled to visit again her birth land, she was somewhat doubtful upon signing her offer. Rodriguez describes it as a moment of utter culture shock. She had forgotten most of her English, and the local weather and busy Toronto life were in stark contrast to her sunny, carefree teenage days in the artsy Madrid environment.

However, she did not give up and continued to explore Toronto’s rich cultural and artistic life. What helped her a lot, she recounts, was the warm, welcoming atmosphere at the National Ballet School. Despite this, her early years in Toronto were still a struggle. At first, she was classified as a soubrette, a dancer who plays jolly, flirtatious roles. The fact that her growing talent was becoming more and more evident did not do much for her, either. After she made a stunning “Sleeping Beauty” debut, she was highly praised, yet viewed as more of a classical dancer. Nonetheless, Rodriguez had higher ambitions.

She continued to work hard. There were times when she was tempted to “pursue other options,” but the young ballerina resisted such moments of hesitation. At some point, her persistence started to pay off. After long years of waiting, she became a second soloist. In five more years, Rodriguez was officially appointed as principal in 2020.

She has now worked under four different art directors. Another boost to her career came from neo-classical genius George Balanchine, who involved her in innovative contemporary choreography. This gave her the chance to explore and develop additional areas of her talent and become the extremely versatile dancer she is today.

Despite all the challenges she has faced on her road to success, Rodriguez is quoted as saying, “I’ve had a beautiful career.” She has said that even though she is not dancing, she still carries the beauty of dance within her spirit and considers looking for other creative outlets to express her talent. Some of the parts she has played throughout the years include:

• • Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow[9]
• • Odette/Odile in Swan Lake[10]
• • Juliet in Romeo and Juliet[11]
• • Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty[2]
• • The title role in Giselle[1]
• • The title role in Manon[12]
• • Hermione in The Winter’s Tale[13]
• • Lise in La fille mal gardée[14]
• • Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland[3]
• • Romola in Nijinsky[15]
• • Anna Karenina[16]
• • Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire[17]
• • Song of the Earth[1]
• • Terpsichore in Apollo[2]
• • Theme and Variations[1]
• • Serenade[1]
• • Diamond and Rubies in Jewels[1]
• • Dulcinea in Don Quixote (George Balanchine)
• • The title role in Cinderella (James Kudelka)
• • Princess Vasilisa in The Firebird (James Kudelka)
• • An Italian Straw Hat
• • The Four Seasons

”A Streetcar Named Desire”

Rodriguez has chosen to end her 32-year career with the National Ballet of Canada with “A Streetcar Named Desire.” She will portray Blanche DuBois in choreographer John Neumeier’s interpretation of Tennessee Williams’ masterpiece.

The ballerina played the part of Blanche when the National Ballet of Canada first performed “A Streetcar Named Desire” in June 2017. Rodriguez said she had given much thought to how she would like to end her dancing career, and finally decided to go with this most challenging, signature part.

Rodriguez went to then artistic director Karen Kain and asked her to consider bringing the performance back. Kain eagerly gave her the green light and programmed “A Streetcar Named Desire” for March 2021. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic postponed this plan.

However, the team at the National Ballet of Canada still wanted to give Rodriguez the proper send-off and never cancelled its intention to have her star in Neumeier’s dramatic ballet one final time.

That said, Rodriguez has admitted that the part of Blanche DuBois is very demanding due to the character’s complexity. In fact, she has stated she doubts she could have handled the task had it arrived 15 or 20 years ago. Rodriguez has even gone so far as to describe the part as “emotionally draining.” Yet, it remains her favourite and signature role, the perfect ending to her stellar career.