Marcia Haydée

Choreographer

Marcia Haydée was born in Brazil in 1937. She studied at Sadler's Wells School in London and performed as a student at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro. After several years with the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas, Marcia Haydée was hired by the Stuttgart Ballet in 1961. The then ballet director and choreographer John Cranko recognized and encouraged her talent. In 1962 Marcia Haydée became prima ballerina. In the decades of her extraordinary career, she developed into one of the most important international dancers of the post-war period. Marcia Haydee's dance art inspired not only John Cranko, but also other important choreographers such as Kenneth Macmillan, Maurice Béjart and John Neumeier. They created female roles for her, for example in ballets such as The Taming of the Shrew and Onegin (Cranko), The Song of the Earth (Macmillan), Endstation Sehnsucht and Kameliendame (Neumeier).

In 1976 Haydée was appointed ballet director of the Stuttgart Ballet and directed the company until 1996. Marcia Haydée made her debut as choreographer with her Sleeping Beauty production in May 1987. Other creations followed, such as ENAS for Birgit Keil and Richard Cragun as well as Giselle und die Willis. From 1992 to 1995 and again since 2003/04, Marcia Haydée is also director of the Ballet de Santiago de Chile. She choreographed The Firebird and Coppelius the Wizard for this company. In January 2009 her new production of Swan Lake was premiered at the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Antwerp. Marcia Haydée is the bearer of the German Federal Cross of Merit.