Anna-Marie Holmes

Anna-Marie Holmes has appeared as a ballerina and has taught in more than 30 countries on five continents. Born in Canada, she traveled with Heino Heiden, Lydia Karpova and Wayne Shaw; in London with Audrey de Vos and Errol Addison and, in addition, received her Grade 10 Certificate from the Royal Conservatory of Music in piano.

In New York she continued her ballet studies with Felia Dubrovska and trained in Leningrad with Natalia Dudinskaya, Alexander Pushkin and Alla Shelest of the Kirov Ballet. Homes was the first North American invited to perform with the Kirov Ballet in Russia. She also has appeared with the London Festival Ballet, Royal Scottish Ballet, Berlin Staats Oper, Het Nationale Ballet of Holland, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Chicago International Ballet, Ruth Page Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and others. In addition, choreographers such as Brian MacDonald, Agnes de Mile, Ruth Page, Juan Corelli and Peter Darrell created many works for her.

Holmes founded the International Academy of Dance Costa do Sol in Portugal and served as its co-artistic director. In addition, Holmes staged The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Paquita and other major classics when she served as co-artistic director of the Tennessee Festival Ballet. Known for her interpretations of the Russian classics, Holmes has produced or set these great works in Lisbon, Oslo, Helsinki, Antwerp, Naples, Florence, New York and Tokyo. Holmes staged The Sleeping Beauty for Florence’s Maggio Musicale and Swan Lake for Den Norske Oper Ballet. She has taught and restaged many of the classics in America for such companies as Dance Theater of Harlem and American Ballet Theatre. Her staging of Le Corsaire appeared on PBS’s Great Performances, for which it won an Emmy Award.

Holmes joined Boston Ballet in 1985 ad in 1997 was named Artistic Director of the company as well as Dean of Faculty for the Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education. During her tenure with Boston Ballet, Holmes created new stagings of many ballets, including Giselle, Don Quixote,

La Bayadère, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. Holmes was Artistic Director of the School of the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi in 1990 and 1994 and, in 1997, she received the Dance Magazine Award for extraordinary and lasting contributions to the art form. She staged La Bayadère for The Royal Ballet of Flanders and Raymonda for both the National Ballet of Finland and American Ballet Theatre, in addition to teaching at The Royal Ballet in London, Ballet du Capitole in Toulouse and the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen. Holmes became the first recipient of the North Carolina School of the Arts Rudolf Nureyev Endowed Distinguished Professorship in Ballet. Since 2005, she coached Swan Lake at the Den Norske Oper Ballet and Giselle at the Royal Ballet of Flanders, as well as teaching at the Den Norske Oper Ballet, Ballet du Capitole in Toulouse, mounting Laurencia pas d’action for the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago and Le Corsaire and Raymonda for American Ballet Theatre. She has taught at The Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet in England and directed a summer school in Ascoli Picino, Italy. She coached Giselle and staged La Bayadère for the Flanders Ballet. In addition to staging Le Corsaire for ABT every other year, the past three years have taken her to Uraguay to stage Le Corsaire for Julio Bocca’s company and to Argentina to stage a new production of Le Corsaire for the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. She also staged Don Quixote for Ballet West, Tulsa Ballet and the Washington Ballet. Anna-Marie has directed the program of classical dance at Jacob’s Pillow for the past 12 years and has had commissioned 12 original creations for the festival. In Canada, she works frequently with Atlantic Ballet Theater and choreographed and produced a new production of The Nutcracker for the city of Vancouver. This will be the fifth year the Goh Ballet has performed this version of The Nutcracker to sold out houses. She has worked for the Canadian Government as an adjudicator, evaluating most of the major Canadian ballet companies and schools for the Canadian Council.

Holmes is very active in her work as a judge for Youth American Grand Pirx, travelling throughout the United States each year for their preliminary and final competitions. 2013 will take her to Japan, England, Italy and Canada. She has her schedule booked through 2014 and is in constant demand as a judge, guest teacher and choreographer.