The Colon Theater Ballet is based at the
Colon Theater in Argentina's capital and largest city,
Buenos Aires. The Colon Theater was built in 1908 and an opera company was created at that time at the new theater. Colon Theater is the largest classical music hall in South America. Although the current Colon Theater opened in 1908, it was not until 1925 that the Theater's own dance company gave its first performance. Before that, the Colon Theater had hosted foreign ballet artists on its stage, with touring companies from Europe presenting full ballets as early as 1867.
Vaslav Nijinsky's final performance was at the Colon Theatre on September 26, 1911, when he danced in
Le Spectre de la Rose and
Petrushka. From the late 1930s to the late 1940s, the company developed to a larger scale under the choreographer Margarita Wallman. The
Ballets Russes company, under Colonel de Basel, fled
World War II and found temporary refuge at the Colon Theater during the 1940s. Avant garde choreographers of the period worked in Buenos Aires, including
Bronislava Nijinska,
Michel Fokine, who staged eight of his ballets at the Colon Theater Ballet;
Serge Lifar;
Leonide Massine,
Antony Tudor and
David Lichine. Even larger productions were staged during the 1950s. By the 1960s, lavish productions with internationally known dancers such as
Rudolph Nureyev were held at the Colon Theater. The dance world of Argentina suffered a serious setback on October 10, 1971, when 10 of the country's top ballet performers died in a plane crash. Argentine ballet gained a higher profile during the 1980s.
Maximiliano Guerra rose to the position of principal at the
English National Ballet, and returned with that company to perform
Swan Lake at the Colon Theater.
Paloma Herrera was already well known while being a dance student at Colon Theater.
Julio Bocca studied dance at the Colon, then went on to perform internationally. He founded
Ballet Argentino in 1990, with a focus on young Argentinian dancers. Colon Theater Ballet helped launch the newly renovated Colon Theater during its 2010 season. ==Guest performers==