Siphesihle November

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 Lensky in John Cranko’s Onegin and Basilio in Carlos Acosta’s North American premiere of Don Quixote. 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, Lewis Carroll/White Rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Jimmy/Snowman in the world premiere of MADDADDAM, Rodolphe Boulanger in Helen Pickett’s Emma Bovary and Leo in William Yong’s UtopiVerse. 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, Rubies, Being and Nothingness, Paz de la Jolla, Night, Elite Syncopations, Concerto, The Collective Agreement, Alleged Dances, 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.