{"id":11524,"date":"2021-05-10T14:21:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T14:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=11524"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:24","slug":"marcelino-sambe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2021\/05\/10\/marcelino-sambe\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcelino Samb\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marcelino Samb\u00e9<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Royal Ballet: Artist (2012-2014), First Artist (2014-2015), Soloist (2015-2017), First Soloist (2017-2019), Principal (2019-present)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\"Marcelino
Photo via The Evening Standard<\/em><\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marcelino Samb\u00e9 was born in Lisbon, Portugal to a Guinean father and Portuguese mother on April 29, 1994. Samb\u00e9 started African dance classes at seven years old before being encouraged to start ballet. At his audition for the National Conservatory of Lisbon, the young dancer presented an improvised African dance, an act that landed him a place at the school.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

At age 16, Samb\u00e9 participated in the Prix de Lausanne, winning a scholarship to train at the Royal Ballet Upper School. During his training in London, he performed in John Neumeier\u2019s Yondering<\/em> and Alastair Marriott\u2019s Simple Symphony<\/em> at the School\u2019s annual matinee and a summer gala in Venice in 2012.<\/div>\n
He then became an artist with the Royal Ballet in 2012 (before his graduation from the school), first artist in 2014, soloist in 2015, first soloist in 2017, and principal in 2019.<\/div>\n
Samb\u00e9 is the recipient of numerous awards: Moscow International Ballet Competition (silver medal, 2008), Youth American Grand Prix (first prize, 2009), USA International Ballet Competition (gold medal and special award, 2010), Critics\u2019 Circle National Dance Awards for Outstanding Male Classical Performance (2017) and Best Male Dancer (2019). For his choreographic work, Samb\u00e9 was named one of the UK\u2019s emerging choreographers by Youth Dance England and was awarded second prize at the Ursula Morton Choreographic Awards in 2011. He has choreographed for the Royal Ballet\u2019s Draft Works and the Royal Ballet School\u2019s annual performance.<\/div>\n
The Royal Ballet lists Samb\u00e9’s extensive repertoire: Franz (Copp\u00e9lia<\/em>), Colas (La Fille mal gard\u00e9e<\/em>), Oberon (The Dream<\/em>), Hans-Peter\/Nutcracker (The Nutcracker<\/em>), Mercutio and Romeo (Romeo and Juliet<\/em>), Brother Clown (The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em>), Beggar Chief and Lescaut (Manon<\/em>), Lead Hungarian Officer and Bratfisch (Mayerling<\/em>), Bronze Idol (La Bayad\u00e8re<\/em>), Basilio (Don Quixote<\/em>), Officer (Anastasia<\/em>), Bluebird and Florestan (The Sleeping Beauty<\/em>), pas de trois (Swan Lake)<\/em>, lead couple pas de six (Giselle)<\/em>, Footman\/Frog (Alice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland<\/em>), Gypsy Boy (The Two Pigeons<\/em>), Blue Boy (Les Patineurs<\/em>) and in The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Tarantella, Jewels, The Human Seasons, Obsidian Tear, Aeternum, Requiem, La Valse, Aeternum, Within the Golden Hour, Multiverse, Elite Syncopations, Tchaikovsky pas de deux, Tarantella, Symphony in C, The Human Seasons, Infra, Concerto<\/em> and Medusa<\/em>. He has created roles in Crystal Pite\u2019s Flight Pattern<\/em>, Kim Brandstrup\u2019s Ceremony of Innocence<\/em>, Marriott\u2019s Connectome<\/em>, Hofesh Shechter\u2019s Untouchable<\/em> and Wayne McGregor\u2019s Woolf Works<\/em>.<\/div>\n