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Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Spotlight on Dancer Nadia Mara

For the final week of National Hispanic Heritage month, we turn the spotlight on Company dancer Nadia Mara who is entering her ninth season with Atlanta Ballet!

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Nadia trained at the National School of Ballet in her country, where she graduated as the best dancer in school and was awarded the Elena Smirnova Gold Medal by Argentine ballet critic Honorio Destaville. In the United States, Nadia started dancing with North Carolina Dance Theatre. At Atlanta Ballet, she performed the lead in Giselle, Kitri in Don Quixote, Sugar Plum Fairy in Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker, Mina in Michael Pink’s Dracula, Pamina in Mark Godden’s The Magic Flute, and principal roles in Jorden Morris’ Moulin Rouge© — The Ballet and James Kudelka’s The Four Seasons. She was also featured in Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena, Christopher Wheeldon’s Rush, Jorma Elo’s 1st Flash, and Wayne McGregor’s Eden|Eden.

During the 13|14 Season, you saw her on stage as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Meissen Doll, and Spanish in Atlanta Ballet's Nutcracker; a Montague in Roméo et Juliette; Gertrude in Hamlet; a featured dancer in both Seven Sonatas and Secus during the Modern Choreographic Voices program; and as a Reckoner and Diana in The Exiled and a featured dancer in 1st Flash during the MAYhem program.

Click here to watch her 2011 interview on CNN Español!

Nadia Mara performs in Alexei Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas.

Photos by Charlie McCullers.