Associate Director
Lola de Avila, Associate Director
Lola de Avila was trained in Zaragoza, Spain, by her mother Maria de Avila, and went on to study in Cannes; Cologne, Germany; and Paris with teachers such as Anton Dolin, Nora Kiss, Leon Woizkowski, Victor Gsovsky, and Rosella Hightower. At the early age of 15, she made her soloist debut in the Claude Giraud Ballet, and throughout her stage career she performed a wide variety of repertory, including Corrida, La Sylphide, Swan Lake, Giselle, Raymonda, Sleeping Beauty, and Lifar’s Suite en Blanc, with partners that included Rudolf Nureyev and Erik Bruhn. As a dancer, de Avila performed with a number of companies including the Royal Chamber Ballet of Spain, Ballet of Madrid, and Teatro De La Zarzuela.In 1978, de Avila was named director of the School of Victor Ullate. In 1980, she became involved with the National Classical Ballet (part of the Ministry of Culture), helping to restage choreography as well as teach in the school. In 1983, she helped form the Ballet of Zaragoza, and a year later was appointed assistant director of the National Ballet of Spain. Two years later, she was appointed head director of the School of the National Ballet of Spain, and of Maria de Avila Ballet School.
De Avila first taught at the San Francisco Ballet School for two weeks in 1990 as part of The E.L. Wiegand Master Guest Teacher Program. The following years, she returned for a full-semester residency, again sponsored by the E. L. Wiegand Foundation. In fall 1992, de Avila accepted Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson’s invitation to serve as associate director for the San Francisco Ballet School, a position she held until September 1999.
After returning to Europe, de Avila became director of the Maria de Avila Ballet School in Zaragosa. During this period, she continued to collaborate with San Francisco Ballet, coaching Company members in various works, including Paquita for San Francisco Ballet’s 1991 Opening Night Gala, Tomasson’s Giselle, and Swan Lake, as well as Tomasson/Possokhov’s Don Quixote. At the same time, she worked with other companies including Boston Ballet and Houston Ballet. From 2000-2002, she was resident ballet mistress at Ballet de Genève. In 2004, she restored Les Sylphides for Maggio Fiorentino and in January 2005, the company premiered her production of Giselle at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze. In summer 2006, following the departure of former SF Ballet School Associate Director Gloria Govrin, de Avila was appointed associate director of the school.
