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- António Casalinho is a Portuguese ballet dancer. He was born on the 14th of June 2003 in Leiria, Portugal, where he completed his ballet studies from the age of 8 at the Annarella Sanchez International Conservatory of Ballet and Dance, which follows the Cuban methodology. He is a multi award winner, from a young age winning prizes in every international competition he has entered. In 2021 he was Laureate at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne, where exceptionally he won both the First Prize Classical and Contemporary Prize. In 2019, he was the winner of the Grand Prix at the Beijing International Ballet Competition. In 2018 he swept the board in Varna, Bulgaria, one of the oldest ballet competitions in the world, taking every prize he was eligible for- the Special Distinction Award in the Junior Category, (a distinction he shares with Mikhail Baryshnikov), the Emil Dimitrov Prize for Young Talent and Promising Young Dancer and the Bounty Award for the youngest Round 3 competitor. At YAGP in New York he took the Grand Prix Award in the Junior and Senior category in 2016 and 2018 respectively. António is the only dancer to have won all four of these notable competitions. In 2017 he was the winner of the Portugal Got Talent television competition, and in 2020 he was the grand winner of Batalha dos Jurados, the Battle of Champions. In September 2021, aged 18, he joined the Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich as a Soloist. His repertoire there includes the Pas de Trois in Emeralds and four men in Rubies from Balanchine’s Jewels, both Autumn and Benjamin in Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella, the Peasant Pas in Giselle, Benno in Swan Lake and the roles of Puck, Philostrat and Demetrius in John Neumeier’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. In April 2022, he had his debut in a principal role when he performed the role of Franz for the opening night of Roland Petit’s Coppélia. He was also a soloist in Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, in Marco Goecke’s Sweet Bones Melody and the Priest in Kaydanovskiy’s The Blizzard. In the current 2022/23 season he debuted as Mercutio in John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet. In July 2022 he was the recipient of the Mirpuri Revelation Award, and performed the Acteon variation at the iconic Teatro São Carlos in Lisbon, sharing the stage with Natalia Osipova. On July 30th 2022, he had his debut as Basilio in Maina Gielgud’s production of Don Quixote, where he performed Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Drunken Solo. On 31 August 2022 he performed at the Positano Prémio della Danza. He was a recipient of the Léonide Massine Dance Award for Dancer of the Year on an International Stage, alongside Alessandra Ferri who received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Since 2019 he has performed several full length ballets: James in La Sylphide act 2, Albrecht in Giselle, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake. Other highlights have been the Gilpin solo in Variations for Four (Dolin) and Prince Florimund in The Sleeping Beauty Act 3, all staged by Maina Gielgud, and partnering Margarita Fernandes. He has appeared in a number of gala performances in Nervi, Sintra, Barcelona, New York, Costa Rica, Los Angeles, Mexico and Beijing, performing Le Corsaire, Flames of Paris, La Sylphide, the Talisman, Gopak, The Sleeping Beauty and Grand Pas Classique. As a professional dancer, he has been invited to perform in numerous galas, including Roberto Bolle and Friends in Bologna, in February 2022; in May he was a guest artist in Dance for Peace, in Munich; in July 2022 he performed in Les Étoiles des Grands Ballets, Cannes where he had his debut performance of Les Bourgeois; in August 2022 he performed in Kyoto, Japan. In September 2022, he performed in the Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center. In October 2022 he performed in Sibiu, Romania. His regular partner is Margarita Fernandes, who was schooled with him at the Conservatório Annarella Sanchez. Recognised as a prodigious talent with an exceptional classical ballet technique, musicality, artistic quality and acting ability, António is equally at home in contemporary works. He is widely recognised as a leading dancer of his generation. (en)
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