After 15 incredible seasons, we bid a fond farewell to Company dancer Nadia Mara. Bringing her already-extraordinary ballet career full circle, it is bittersweet that we announce Nadia will be returning to her native country in South America to be a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Uruguay. With the season cut short due to COVID-19, we are sad to have to say a virtual goodbye to one of our veteran stars.

Nadia is admired among ballet fans for her musicality, versatility, energy, grace and phenomenal ability to connect with any audience by telling stories through movement. Longtime Atlanta Ballet patrons and supporters have had the pleasure of watching her mature and evolve as a dancer since she joined the company in 2006.

Nadia’s most notable lead roles with Atlanta Ballet include Giselle, Kitri in Don Quixote, Sugar Plum Fairy in Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker, Mina in Michael Pink’s Dracula, Nathalie in Jorden Morris’ Moulin Rouge ® - The Ballet, and Marguerite in Helen Pickett’s Camino Real. She has starred in principal roles in Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Stars and Stripes and Who Cares?; James Kudelka’s The Four Seasons; David Bintley’s Carmina Burana, and Yuri Possokhov’s Firebird, among others. She has also been featured in Alexei Ratmansky’s Seven Sonatos, Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort, Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16 and Secus, Alexander Ekman’s Cacti, Liam Scarlett’s Vesperine, and many, many more.

In addition to her role as a member of the Company, Nadia has shared her creative finesse with the next generation of young dancers by creating multiple new works on Atlanta Ballet 2.

We wish we could all gather in the theatre to celebrate Nadia’s extraordinary career at Atlanta Ballet and experience the magic she brings on stage one last time, but unfortunately, we have to say farewell from a distance.

Nadia – thank you for sharing you passion, charisma and artistry with us and the city of Atlanta for so many years. Your Atlanta Ballet family wishes you happiness and success in your next exciting chapter. Merde!

NADIA MARA was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and trained at Uruguay’s National School of Ballet, graduating as the best dancer in school and earning the Elena Smirnova Gold Medal. In the United States, Nadia began dancing with North Carolina Dance Theatre and joined Atlanta Ballet in 2006. Her most notable lead roles include Giselle, Kitri in Don Quixote, Sugar Plum Fairy in Atlanta Ballet's Nutcracker, Mina in Michael Pink’s Dracula, Nathalie in Jorden Morris’ Moulin Rouge® - The Ballet and Marguerite in Helen Pickett’s Camino Real. Principal roles include Balanchine's Allegro Brillante, Stars and Stripes and Who Cares?; James Kudelka's The Four Seasons; David Bintley's Carmina Burana; and Yuri Possokhov's Firebird, among others. She has been featured in Alexei Ratmansky’s Seven Sonatas, Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort, Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16 and Secus, Alexander Ekman’s Cacti, Christopher Wheeldon’s Rush, Jorma Elo’s 1st Flash, Wayne McGregor’s Eden|Eden and Liam Scarlett’s Vespertine. Nadia has received the award of “Outstanding Artist" given by The Atlanta Journal Constitution and Mundo Hispanico.