Fernando Montaño

Colombian dancer Fernando Montaño is a former Soloist of The Royal Ballet. He joined the Company in 2006 as an Artist and was promoted to First Artist in 2010 and Soloist in 2014. He represented the Company in the 2007 Erik Bruhn Competition. He left the Company during the 2020/21 Season.

Montaño studied at the Colombian and Cuban National Ballet schools and graduated into Cuban National Ballet in 2004. He also danced on scholarships with La Scala Ballet, Milan, and Teatro Nuovo di Torino. His repertory with the Company included Colas (La Fille mal gardée), Jester (Cinderella), Gypsy Girl’s Lover (The Two Pigeons), Bluebird (The Sleeping Beauty), Rajah/Caterpillar (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), Harlequin (The Nutcracker), Benvolio and the balcony pas de deux (Romeo and Juliet), pas de six (Giselle), pas de trois (Swan Lake), pas de trois (Fool’s Paradise) and roles in Napoli Divertissements, The Human Seasons, Multiverse, Obsidian Tear, Scènes de ballet, Manon, La Vivandière, Raymonda Act III, Chroma, Woolf Works and Carbon Life. Other appearances include dancing Le Spectre de la rose at the opening of the Teatro Colón, Bogotá. Choreographic works include Michelangelo for Draft Works.

Montaño has twice won Personality of the Year award at the LUKAS Awards (2013, 2014), celebrating prominent Latin figures in the UK. His other awards include prizes at the International Ballet Contest, Havana, a Citation of Honor (New York) and an honour from the President of Colombia. He has modelled for Vivienne Westwood and choreographed and danced Alchemy for her Banqueting House catwalk show in 2008. His dance short film Narcissus had its premiere in 2014. He is a patron of the charity Children of the Andes, for which he has organized the charity galas ‘Fernando and Friends’. In 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts, University of Bath.