Quick Facts

Born: Buffalo, New York
Trained: Classical Ballet of Western New York in Williamsville, New York and Canada’s National Ballet School
Joined: 2019
Corps de Ballet since: 2022

Five Things to Know

1. 1Nina has danced in ballets such as Giselle, Etudes, Pas de Cinq in George Balanchine’s Chaconne, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Serenade.
    
2. 2Both her parents are professional ballet dancers and own a ballet school in Buffalo. They will always be her lifelong ballet teachers.
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4. 3Nina would come to watch the National Ballet perform at Meridian Hall (formerly known as Sony Centre) from the age of two.
    
5. 4At the age of 16, Nina moved to Toronto to train at Canada’s National Ballet School and studied with former National Ballet dancer Lise-Marie Jourdain.
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7. 5Nina’s dad is Vietnamese and was born during the Vietnam War. Because of this, Nina has always had a passion for human rights and activism.

Favourite Ballets

1. 1Les Sylphides
    
2. 2Allegro Brillante
    
3. 3Metamorphosis by David Dawson
    
4. 4Suite en Blanc by Serge Lifar
    
5. 5Dances at a Gathering by Jerome Robbins

Full Biography

Nina Gentes was born in Buffalo, New York and trained at Classical Ballet of Western New York in Williamsville, New York and Canada’s National Ballet School. She joined The National Ballet of Canada as a RBC Apprentice in 2019 and was promoted to Corps de Ballet in 2022. 

Nina’s repertoire includes Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Giselle, Chaconne, Etudes and Serenade. 

Nina is the recipient of the Peter Dwyer Award in 2019 and Erik Bruhn Memorial Award in 2019.