Ballet Theater Promotes Several Dancers, Including 3 to Principal


American Ballet Theater announced on Tuesday that it has promoted two of its dancers — Catherine Hurlin and Roman Zhurbin — to the role of principal, while also hiring Daniel Camargo, who has been a guest artist, as a principal, the company’s highest rank.

Ballet Theater is nearing the end of its first season at the Metropolitan Opera House since the pandemic shut down the performing arts. Camargo, a Brazilian-born dancer, has been a standout since he started a packed season with the company just last month, taking on roles in “Don Quixote,” “Swan Lake” and Alexei Ratmansky’s “Of Love and Rage.” On Monday, he made his debut as Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet.”

Camargo, 30, has been a member of the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany and the Dutch National Ballet but has more recently been living out of a suitcase, freelancing with companies around the world. Now, he will get to put down roots in New York City.

“I’m happy to stop and really stay in one place and be a part of A.B.T.’s family,” Camargo said in an interview on Tuesday.

Hurlin, 26, has been a part of that family since she was young, earning a full scholarship to study at A.B.T. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School when she was about 12. She became an apprentice with the company not long after that, rising to become a member of the corps de ballet months later and to soloist in 2018.

Hurlin has received rave reviews for her dancing. The New York Times’s dance critic, Gia Kourlas, called her recent performance in the Ratmansky premiere — in which she partnered with Aran Bell — “divine.”

“The simple serenity of Hurlin’s face, framed by cascading curls, is riveting, as is the daring amplitude of her expressive, singular dancing,” Kourlas wrote.

And, when she made her debut in the double role of Odette-Odile in “Swan Lake” last week, Kourlas wrote that “Hurlin is the future of Ballet Theater, the kind of dancer who has a fresh take on story ballets, the company’s bread and butter.”

Zhurbin, 37, was born in Russia and came to the United States as a teenager, beginning his ballet training at LaGuardia High School at 15. He has spent almost two decades with the company, building an extensive list of parts that includes the title role in “Don Quixote” and several characters in “Romeo and Juliet.” Critics have praised his ability to bring depth to characters in narrative ballets.

The company also announced that it would be promoting five of its corps de ballet dancers to soloists: Breanne Granlund, 24; Sung Woo Han, 29; Betsy McBride, 29; Chloe Misseldine, 20; and SunMi Park, 23.