Principal ballerina: San Francisco Ballet

Nikisha Fogo is one of the ballet world’s most striking dancers, she is an accomplished classical principal ballerina with San Francisco Ballet Company who is equally comfortable taking on the most challenging roles of modern dance.

Her repertory includes Kitri’s Friend and Amor in Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote; Prince’s Companion, the Little Swan, and the Hungarian dance (soloist role) in Nureyev’s Swan Lake; the Snowflake in Nureyev’s The Nutcracker; Clémence in Nureyev’s Raymonda; Olga in John Cranko’s Onegin; the friend in Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée; Odalisque in Manuel Legris´ Le Corsaire; Zigeunerin in Michael Corder’s Die Schneekönigin (The Snow Queen), the Shadow of Marie Antoinette in Patrick de Bana’s Marie Antoinette; a farmer in Elena Tschernischova’s Giselle; the Woman in Green, Anitra, the daughter of a Beduinen-Häuptlings in Edward Clug’s Peer Gynt, as well as lead roles in George Balanchine’s Tarantella, Stars and Stripes, Allegro Brillante, and Theme and Variations; William Forsythe’s The Second Detail; Alexander Ekman’s Cacti; Patrick de Bana’s Creatures; Jiří Bubeníček’s Le Souffle de l’esprit; John Neumeier’s Le Sacre, Verklungene Feste, and Bach Suite III; Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto; and Wayne McGregor’s EDEN|EDEN. She created roles in András Lukács’ Movements to Stravinsky (second couple) and in Andrey Kaydanovskiy’s Firebird (Putzfrau/​Maid).

Fogo’s awards and honours include the first prize at the 2010 Stora Daldansen competition in Falun (Sweden) and at the Ballet Competition in Grasse (France).