Miguel Campaneria
Miguel Campaneria was born in Cuba and was trained at the National Ballet School of Cuba under the guidance of Alicia Alonso, Fernando Alonso, and Azari Plisetski. He joined the National Ballet of Cuba and was promoted to soloist at the age of 18. He won the bronze medal in the junior category at the prestigious International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. He had also partnered Alicia Alonso in Marguerite and Armand and other ballets.
Upon leaving Cuba, Mr. Campaneria continued his ballet studies with such teachers as David Howard, Patricia Wilde, Gabriella Taub-Darvash, Melissa Hayden and Michael Maule. He has danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Harkness Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre. During that period he added to his repertoire roles in Alvin Ailey's The River, Maurice Bejart's Song of a Wayfarer, Todd Bolender's The Still Point, Vicente Nebrada's Percussion For Six Men, Brian MacDonald's Canto Indio, and Norman Walker's Night Song.
Mr. Campaneria then joined the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre as a principal dancer where he danced the roles of Prince Siegfried in Petrus Bosman's Swan Lake, the Prince in Rosemary Valaire's The Sleeping Beauty, Albrecht in Giselle, the Prince in Keith Martin's The Nutcracker, Romeo in Patrick Frantz's Romeo and Juliet, and principal roles in Harald Lander's Etudes, Frantz's Firebird, and La Danse Triomphe. As a principal dancer with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Mr. Campaneria partnered principal ballerinas Dagmar Kessler, Eleanor D'Antuono, and Francesca Corkle.
Mr. Campaneria subsequently joined the Ballets de San Juan as a principal dancer. Mr. Campaneria expanded his repertoire to include the roles of Franz in Alicia Alonso's and Frederic Franklin's Coppelia, James in Ivan Nagy's staging of La Sylphide, Solor in Alexander Fillipov's staging of Act 2 of La Bayadere, the Prince in Ana Garcia's Cinderella, Colas in Alonso's La Fille Mal Gardee, the Poet in Barbara Fallis' staging of Les Sylphides, and the Balanchine ballets, Allegro Brillante, Serenade, Concerto Barocco, Scotch Symphony, Sylvia Pas de Deux, and Theme and Variations. Mr. Campaneria has also partnered guest ballerinas Francesca Corkle, Veronica Tennant, and Cynthia Gregory.
In the summer of 1983, Mr. Campaneria accompanied fellow Ballets de San Juan principal, Maria Teresa del Real, to the International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. Participating in the Competition as a non-competitor, Mr. Campaneria was awarded the special prize as Best Partner, and his experience proved beneficial in Miss del Real being awarded the bronze medal in the senior category at the Competition. Their performance in the Don Quixote Pas de Deux was lauded as the single most impressive event at the Competition. Both Mr. Campaneria and Miss del Real were invited to the White House by President Reagan to receive his personal congratulations on their achievements in Varna.
During the 1985-86 season Mr. Campaneria appeared in the International Ballet Celebration gala performances in Evansville, Indiana, where he partnered Ana Maria Castanon in Don Quixote Pas De Deux and a pas de deux he choreographed, Pachelbel Canon. Mr. Campaneria also appeared as a guest artist with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, partnering Maria Teresa del Real and Janet Popeleski, in Nicholas Beriozoff's full-length production of Don Quixote and also danced principal roles in Balanchine's The Four Temperaments, and Andre Prokovsky's Konigsmark. He also appeared as a guest artist in the Charlotte Youth Ballet's The Nutcracker, partnering Sui Kan Chiang, and in the Radford University Ballet's production of Coppelia, partnering Dagmar Kessler. In 1986 Mr. Campaneria joined the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre as a principal dancer and in 1987 created the role of the Exhibition Dancer in Andre Prokovsky's The Great Gatsby.
As a guest artist Mr. Campaneria partnered Maria Teresa del Real with the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, the Nutmeg Ballet, in gala performances at the Hollywood Bowl with Fernando Bujones and Friends and touring with Cynthia Gregory and Company. Mr. Campaneria also appeared in the Ballet Orlando's production of The Nutcracker, a return engagement in the Charlotte Youth Ballet's The Nutcracker, partnering Janet Popeleski, and in the International Ballet Celebration gala performance in Charleston, South Carolina, where he partnered Janet Popeleski in Don Quixote Pas de Deux and Pachelbel Canon.
Guest appearances during the 1988-89 season included The Nutcracker with Ballet Memphis and The Sleeping Beauty with the Corpus Christi Ballet, on both occasions partnering Janet Popeleski. During the 1989-90 season Mr. Campaneria appeared in the Charlotte Youth Ballet's productions of The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty, the Mohawk Valley Performing Arts' production of The Nutcracker and appeared in the International Ballet Celebration gala in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, partnering Janet Popeleski in Don Quixote Pas de Deux and White Swan Pas de Deux. Mr. Campaneria has also appeared as a guest artist with ballet companies in Puerto Rico, Haiti, and Japan.
In 1990, Mr. Campaneria left the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre to pursue a career as a freelance guest artist, master teacher and choreographer. Mr. Campaneria has staged Paquita for the Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico, The Nutcracker for Point Park College in Pittsburgh and choreographed the solo, Reflections, for the Charleston Ballet. During the 1990-91 season, Mr. Campaneria appeared as a guest artist in the Charlotte Youth Ballet's production of The Wizard of Oz and The Sleeping Beauty Pas de Deux with the Charleston Ballet.
In 1991 Mr. Campaneria joined Ballet Municipal de San Juan as a permanent guest artist and artistic advisor.
During the 1991-92 season Mr. Campaneria appeared as a guest artist in Point Park College's The Nutcracker, the Mohawk Valley for the Performing Arts' production of The Nutcracker, the Charlotte Youth Ballet's The Wizard of Oz and co-staged -- and appeared as a guest artist in -- the Charleston Ballet's production of La Fille Mal Gardee. He has also staged Pas de Quatre, Coppelia and Paquita for the Charleston Ballet. In 1996 Mr. Campaneria staged The Sleeping Beauty Act III Pas de Deux and created the pas de deux, Delirium, for the Charleston Ballet. In 2000 Mr. Campaneria co-staged a full-length production of The Nutcracker for the Charleston Ballet. Mr. Campaneria has also appeared in the Sarasota Ballet's gala performances and danced the role of the Prince in the Charlotte Youth Ballet's revival of The Sleeping Beauty.
Mr. Campaneria has been on the summer faculty of the Point Park College's dance program, a guest teacher at the Oregon Ballet Theatre School, and has frequently appeared as a guest artist and stages works in Japan.
From 2002-04 Mr. Campaneria was artistic director of the R.M.T. Academie de Danse in Haiti.
In 2005 Mr. Campaneria was appointed artistic director of Balleteatro Nacional de Puerto Rico.