FRANCESCA DUGARTE was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Before joining BalletMet, she danced with The Washington Ballet. Ms. Dugarte trained at Academia de Ballet Clasico Nina Novak and La Scala Theatre Ballet School. Prior to Washington Ballet, she was a principal dancer at Teatro Teresa Carrẽno, a demi-soloist at Zurich Ballet, a principal dancer at Victor Ullate Ballet and a guest artist at Slovakia National Ballet.
In 2011, Dugarte was a contestant on the reality show Amici di Maria de Fillippi, in Rome. She is the winner of numerous awards including second place in the Youth America Grand Prix. In 2007, she won first place in Korea’s International Ballet Competition and in 2010, she was the winner of the Presidential Sponsorship Award at Korea’s International Ballet Competition.
Ms. Dugarte has danced a variety of repertoire including Coppélia, The Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire, La Sylphide, Swan Lake, Diana & Acteon, Paquita, Esmeralda, Flames of Paris, Napoli, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Balanchine’s Serenade, Graduation Ball, Carmen, Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Firebird, 27’52”, In the Upper Room, Samsara and Jaleos. Ms. Dugarte has been with BalletMet since our 18/19 season.
Images by Jennifer Zmuda