Linnar Looris
(Artistic Director of the Estonian National Ballet)
EDUCATION AND WORK
Linnar Looris graduated from the Tallinn Ballet School in 2001. During his graduation years (2000, 2001), he was chosen to represent Estonia at the European Dance Festival in France, where he had the opportunity to get additional coaching from Vladimir Vasiliev and Monique Loudieres. At the European Dance Festival, he performed leading roles and toured around France, Italy and Switzerland before joining the Estonian National Ballet in 2001 and until 2006, he was a Principal Dancer with the Estonian National Ballet. In 2006, he joined Birmingham Royal Ballet as a soloist and in 2007, he became a soloist with Houston Ballet. Since 2019, he is the Artistic Director of the Estonian National Ballet.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In 2002, Mr. Looris received Philip Morris Young Dancer of the Year Award. He is the laureate of the Foundation of Culture Scholarship Awards in 2004 and 2006.
REPERTOIRE
Mr. Looris performed all the leading roles in the company’s classical and contemporary repertoire and toured to Finland, Sweden, Ukraine, Russia and USA.
Karenin (Shchedrin’s “Anna Karenina”)
Mercutio (Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet”)
Prince (Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker”)
Prince Siegfried and pas de trois (Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”)
Prince and Blue Bird (Tchaikovsky’s “The Sleeping Beauty”)
Count Albrecht (Adam’s “Giselle”)
Nathanael’s friend (Bigonzetti’s “Coppélia”)
Enea and Paride (Cannito/Schiavoni’s “Cassandra”)
Soloist roles:
Balanchine’s “Allegro Brillante”
McKneely’s “New York–New York”
Suve’s “Theme With Variations”
Elo’s “Red With Me”
Härm’s “La valse”
Kylián’s “Songs Of A Wayfarer”
Birmingham Royal Ballet:
Romeo and Paris (MacMillan’s “Romeo and Juliet”)
Prince (Wright’s “The Nutcracker”)
Apollo (Balanchine’s “Apollo”)
Soloist roles:
Balanchine’s “That’s Life”
Tharp’s “Nine Sinatra Songs”
Houston Ballet:
Prince (Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker”
Prince Désirée (Tchaikovsky’s “The Sleeping Beauty”)
Onegin (Cranko’s “Onegin”)
Petruchio (Cranko’s “Taming of the Shrew”)
Danilo (Hynd’s “The Merry Widow”)
Prospero (Bintley’s “The Tempest”)
Captain Hook (McIntyre’s “Peter Pan”)
Demetrius (Neumeier’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”)
Solor (Minkus’ “La Bayadère”)
Prince Siegfried (Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”)
Principal couple roles:
Wheeldon’s “Carousel”
Tudor’s “The Leaves are Fading”
MacMillan’s “Song of the Earth”
Balanchine’s “Serenade”
Balanchine’s “Emeralds”
Forsythe’s “Artifact Suite”
Kudelka’s “Little Dancer”
Kylian’s “Songs of a Wayfarer”
Tharp’s “The Brahms-Haydn Variations”
Robbins’ “In the Night”
Robbins’ “The Concert”
Van Manen’s “Grosse Fuge”
Ashton’s “Les Patineurs”
Twyla Tharp has also created roles for him in his world premiere ballets “Tapestry”, “The Core” and “Marie”.
Stagings:
“Timbu-Limbu’s Court and the Snow Millers” (2023, Chamber Hall of the Estonian National Opera)