Magdalena Popa

Biography

Magdalena Popa, Principal Artistic Coach

Hailed by L’Humanité as “one of the great stars of our time,” Romanian-born Magdalena Popa brings her rich experience as an international prima ballerina and her invaluable teaching knowledge to her position of Principal Artistic Coach with The National Ballet of Canada.

As a ballerina, Ms. Popa danced lead roles in virtually all of the major classical ballets throughout her lengthy performing career, including Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle and Les Sylphides, as well as a contemporary repertoire including Daphnis and Chloë, The Miraculous Mandarin, Spartacus and Soleil des eaux, among others. She also performed with many of the world’s foremost ballet companies, including the Bolshoi and Kirov ballets, London Festival Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Les Grands Ballets Classique de France and Ballet Theatre Contemporain de France. In 1964, she received a Silver Medal at the First International Dance Competition in Varna, Bulgaria and, in 1965, the Gold Star at the International Dance Festival in Paris.

Ms. Popa joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1982 as Ballet Mistress and was appointed Principal Ballet Mistress in 1984. In addition to her work with the National Ballet, she is in great demand as a guest teacher and a jury member at ballet competitions throughout the world. She has also staged numerous ballets, both in Canada and abroad. In 2002, Ms. Popa was invited by President Ion Iliescu to return to Romania where she was presented with the country’s highest honour, the Order of the Star of Romania.