Anna-Marie Holmes has appeared as a ballerina and has taught in more than 30 countries on five continents. Born in Canada, she trained 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. Holmes 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 Staatsoper, Het Nationale Ballet of Holland, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Chicago International Ballet, Ruth Page Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and others. In addition, choreographers such as Brian MacDonald, Agnes de Mille, 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. 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. In addition to staging Le Corsaire for ABT every other year, the past three years have taken her to Uruguay 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. Holmes joined Boston Ballet in 1985 and 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. Anna-Marie Holmes became the first recipient of the North Carolina School of the Arts Rudolf Nureyev Endowed Distinguished Professorship in Ballet.
