Biography
Jonathan Renna was born in Ottawa, Ontario and trained at Canada’s National Ballet School. He joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1997, leaving in 2000 to dance with Northern Ballet Theatre in England and Alberta Ballet. Jonathan re-joined the National Ballet in 2007, was promoted to Principal Character Artist in 2015 and Guest Principal Character Artist in 2020.
“Jonathan Renna’s Act II Petrouchka was so heartbreaking… the personification of Nijinsky’s inner distress and helplessness.
ArtsFile.ca
Jonathan’s repertoire includes Uncle Nikolai in The Nutcracker, Mercutio and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Rothbart in Swan Lake, Don José in Carmen, Hilarion in Giselle, Petruschka in Nijinsky, Prince Gremin in Onegin, Geppetto in Pinocchio and Antigonus in The Winter’s Tale. His repertoire also includes roles in The Sleeping Beauty, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Seagull, Manon, A Month in the Country, Hamlet, Marguerite and Armand, West Side Story Suite, Chroma, Russian Seasons, The Man in Black, Pur ti Miro, Cinderella, The Concert and Emergence.
Quotes
Carmen
“Jonathan Renna as Escamillo is costumed like a bull including grey skin and head horns. He represents, presumably, carnal lust and the male testosterone archetype, and is given suitable animalistic movement and a brutal coupling with Carmen.”
— The Globe and Mail
Onegin
"As Prince Gremin, Jonathan Renna was a picture of dutiful love.”
— DanceViewTimes.com