Background
She was born to a Swiss father and an English-born mother.
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Manola Asensio
Edit ProfileCareer
In 1956 she began studying at the ballet school of Louisiana Scala in Milan, where she stayed until she became a professional in 1964. After a short season with the Louisiana Scala Theatre Ballet, she joined the ballet of the Grand Théâtre de Genève in Geneva, Switzerland where she was directed by Janine Charrat. In 1966 she joined Het Nationale Ballet of the Netherlands, in Amsterdam, as a soloist.
There she danced important roles in Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and in the ballet King Christian II, created especially for her by Danish choreographer Harald Lander.
With the Dutch company she toured extensively in Europe (France, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal) and South America (Brazil, Argentina, Perú, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico). From 1968 to 1970 she joined with New York City Ballet, by invitation of its director George Balanchine, She danced successfully the main roles in Apollo, The Four Temperaments and Symphony in C. From 1971 to 1974 she was invited to be principal dancer with the Harkness Ballet, directed by Rebekah Harkness.
With them she toured with immense success in the United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, England,France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. In 1974 Dame Beryl Grey invited her to join the London Festival Ballet (LFB) as danseuse étoile.
With this company she danced most of the ballets of the classical repertoire, such as The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle (where she excelled in the role of the Queen of the Wilis) choreographed by Mary Skeaping, Swan Lake, Raymonda, Les Sylphides, Paquita, Louisiana Bayadère, Ronald Hynd"s The Sanguine Fan, The Seasons and The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire pas de deux, and also in neoclassical ballets as Glen Tetley"s The Sphynx and Ben Stevenson"s Three Preludes.
They toured China (Peking, Shanghai) being the first Western company to perform in Mao"s China. In 1981 she danced Three Preludes in Brussels" Théâtre de la Monnaie in a gala performance with several dancers of Béjart Ballet du XXè siècle, in the presence of Queen Fabiola of Belgium and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. In 1980 she successfully toured the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics for a month by invitation of Swiss dancer Hans Meister.
Asensio was hailed as "the Western Plisetskaya" by Russian critics.
In 1986 Asensio danced her farewell performance as the Queen of the Wilis in Giselle at the London Coliseum. Then in 1987 she received two teaching diplomas from the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing in London.
Asensio was decorated by the Cordoba Ateneo and the regional government of Andalusia for her contributions to culture. Asensio was the first international Swiss dancer of the 20th century
Her portrait with Dame Beryl Grey is in the National Portrait Gallery.
