Venus Villa

Born in Havana, Cuba, Venus Villa began her dance journey at the age of 9, before being invited to train at Cuban National Ballet, La Scala Ballet School and Teatro Nuevo di Torino. Upon her graduation, Venus joined the Royal Ballet as a corps de ballet member, and just a year later joined English National Ballet as a First Artist, and later, a soloist. Venus danced both soloist and principal roles across Europe with companies such as Vienna Staatsoper Ballet and Rome Opera Ballet, before taking on the role of a freelance performer at numerous international galas.

Venus previously danced at The Washington Ballet as a Principal Dancer under the directorship of Septime Webre and Julie Kent before joining Hong Kong Ballet as a Principal in 2018. Her performance experience spans lead roles in classical ballets such as Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Coppélia, The Snow Queen and Etudes. In 2014, she toured Italy with Luigi Martelletta’s Carmen and guest performed as the Sugar Plum Fairy in Cincinnati Ballet’s The Nutcracker.

During her time with Hong Kong Ballet, she danced principal roles in Webre’s The Great Gatsby, Peter Pan and ALICE (In Wonderland). She was also featured in Alexei Ratmansky’s Le Carnaval des Animaux, Wayne McGregor’s Chroma and Webre’s Dos Gardenias Pas de Deux from Juanita Y Alicia, among others.

Venus was nominated for a Spotlight Award, Female Artist (Classical) at the 2007 UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. At age 17, she won the Grand Prix at the Vignale Ballet Competition, and in
2009, she received English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer Award. Throughout her international career, she has performed in some of the most prominent venues for dance in the world: dancing pieces by some of the most widely acclaimed choreographers, such as George Balanchine, Wayne McGregor, Septime Webre, Rudolph Nureyev, Frederick Ashton, Kenneth Macmillan, John Cranko and Wayne
Eagling amongst many others. Her technical expertise has seen her partner with the likes of Steven McRae, Rolando Sarabia, Brooklyn Mack, Daniil Simkin and Yonah Acosta.

Whilst actively working in the professional ballet world, Venus has travelled globally to teach a variety of masterclasses and to stage works and variations from ballets such as Giselle, Paquita and Sleeping Beauty to name but a few.

Venus will retire from Hong Kong Ballet in June 2021 and begin teaching full-time with Red Shoe Dance.