Annabelle Lopez Ochoa

Born in 1973, the Belgian-Colombian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa completed her dance education at the Royal Ballet School of Flanders in Belgium. In 2003, after a 12-year long dance career, during which she danced as a soloist with the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, she decided to focus on choreography. In that same year, she was hailed “rising star of the Dutch dance scene” by NRC newspaper and 7 years later, the Temecula Performing Arts Examiner wrote: “Ochoa is truly a masterful choreographer with an edge for what dance can and should be in this constantly changing industry.“
A sought-after choreographer, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa has created works for more than 40 companies around the world such as the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Dutch National Ballet, Djazzex Dance Company, Ballet of Geneva, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Göteborg Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, BalletX, Luna Negra Dance Theater, Ballet national de Marseille, Ballets of Saarbrücken and Augsburg, Jacoby & Pronk, Chemnitzer Ballet, Ballet Hispánico, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, Whim W’Him, IncolBallet of Colombia, Finnish National Ballet, Compañia Nacional de Danza de Madrid, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Scottish Ballet, The Washington Ballet, Ballet Nacional Dominicano, Ballet Austin, Atlanta Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Ballet Moscow, Ballet Nacional de Cuba, West Australian Ballet, Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, Ballet Nacional Chileno, Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatztheaters Ballet of Munich, Ballet Manila, Daniil Simkin Intensio Project, Cincinnati Ballet, Silicon Valley Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, English National Ballet, Ballet Black and New York City Ballet.
A versatile choreographer, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa also creates for theatre, opera, musical and fashion events, such as the fashion Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf’s project in the Van Gogh Museum. She belongs to the theatre-dance collective Die Fantasten for which she successfully co-directed five full-length productions that have been performed in numerous theaters and festivals throughout the Netherlands. In 2009, she created Zip Zap Zoom for Ballets Jazz Montréal, which was included in the 10 best dance moments of the year by the Pittsburgh Gazette, The Boston Globe and the Montreal Gazette. It was also cited as one of the 10 best dance highlights of the year in San Diego and Chicago.
Her work has received numerous awards. In 2016, Broken Wings, created for the English National Ballet, was nominated for a National UK Dance Award in the category of Best Classical Premiere. In 2015, Sombrerisimo, created for Ballet Hispánico, was recipient of the Villanueva Award in Cuba. In 2012, A Streetcar named desire was nominated for the prestigious Olivier Award, named Best Classical Choreography by the Circle of Critics of the National Dance Award, and was awarded Best Dance Production 2012 by the South-Bank Sky Arts Awards. In 2007, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa was elected to participate in the New York City Ballet Choreographic Institute. In 2002, Replay received the first prize and the audience prize at the Bornem Choreographers Competition, and in 2001, Clair / Obscur received the third prize at the Hannover Choreographic Competition.