Quick Facts

Born: Zolani, South Africa
Trained: Canada’s National Ballet School
Joined as Corps de Ballet: 2017
First Soloist since:  2020
Principal Dancer Since: 2021

Siphesihle November is sponsored through Dancers First by Jerry Lozinski, O.C. & Joan Lozinski, O.C.

Five Things to Know

1. 1Siphesihle (“Siphe”) was the subject of the 2019 Beyond Moving documentary, which follows his journey from Zolani, South Africa to Canada’s National Ballet School and The National Ballet of Canada.
    
2. 2He choreographed his first work for YOU dance, the company’s largest community engagement program, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to be performed virtually by the RBC Apprentices. Siphe will create a new work for the National Ballet’s main stage in March 2022.
    
3. 3He performed a featured role in the world premiere of Angels’ Atlas by Crystal Pite, who said: “Creating with him felt like having unlimited access to the work’s core content: the body as a location, a place where being is temporarily held and shaped. You don’t want his dancing to be ephemeral, you just want to have it, hold it, share it with everyone forever.”
    
4. 4His repertoire includes Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, Lewis Carroll/White Rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Puck in The Dream.
    
5. 5He dances a range of classical and contemporary works, such as The Nutcracker, Giselle, The Winter’s Tale, The Four Seasons, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Chroma, Night, Orpheus Alive and many others.

Favourite Ballets

1. 1Giselle
2.  
3. 2The Dream
    
4. 3The Sleeping Beauty
    
5. 4The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude
6.  
7. 5 Angels’ Atlas5

Full Biography

Siphesihle November was born in Zolani, South Africa and trained at Canada’s National Ballet School. Siphesihle joined The National Ballet of Canada as a member of the Corps de Ballet in 2017 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2021. 

Siphesihle recently made his debut as Jimmy/Snowman in the world premiere of MADDADDAM by Wayne McGregor, the world premiere of Rena Butler’s Alleged Dances and the Canadian premiere of Alonzo King’s The Collective Agreement. With his signature musicality, charisma and brilliant technique, Siphesihle is a natural in both classical and contemporary ballets. He has danced such roles as Siegfried in Swan Lake, Peter/The Nutcracker in The Nutcracker, Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, Benvolio and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Puck in The Dream and Lewis Carroll/White Rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. His repertoire includes The Winter’s Tale, Nijinsky, Anna Karenina, The Four Seasons, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Chroma, The Second Detail, Etudes, Chaconne, Angels’ Atlas, Emergence, A Streetcar Named Desire, Being and Nothingness, Paz de la Jolla, Night, Elite Syncopations, Concerto, Orpheus Alive and The Dreamers Ever Leave You. 

In 2019, Siphesihle won The International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize and he was named one of Pointe Magazine’s Star of the Corps and one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch in 2018. He was also featured in Beyond Moving, a documentary that followed his journey from Zolani, South Africa to Canada’s National Ballet School and The National Ballet of Canada. 

In 2022, he made his choreographic debut on the National Ballet’s mainstage with On Solid Ground. For MAD HOT BALLET: Deco-Danse, he created All That Is Within for former First Soloist Tanya Howard to mark her retirement from the company. 

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