Anna-Marie Holmes has appeared as a ballerina and has taught in more than 30 countries on five continents. Born in Canada, she trained with Heino Heiden, Lydia Karpova and Wynne Shaw; in London with Audrey de Vos and Errol Addison and in addition received her grade 10 Certificate from the Royal Conservatory of Music in piano.
In New York she continued her ballet studies with Felia Doubrovska and trained in Leningrad with Natalia Dudinskaya, Alexander Pushkin and Alla Shelest of the Kirov Ballet . Ms. Holmes was the first North American invited to perform with the Kirov Ballet in Russia. Her repertory included "Romeo and Juliet," "Flames of Paris," "Le Corsaire,"and "Giselle." She also has appeared with the London Festival Ballet, Royal Scottish Ballet, Berlin Staats Oper, Het Nationale Ballet of Holland, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Chicago International Ballet, Ruth Page Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet and others. In addition, choreographers such as MacDonald, De Mille, Page, Corelli, and Darrell created many works for her.
Ms. Holmes founded the International Academy of Dance Costa do Sol in Portugal and served as its co-artistic director from 1969 to 1974. In 1970 she created the Lisbon Festival, an annual summer-long celebration of ballet, classical music, musical comedy and mime. In addition, Ms. Holmes staged "The Nutcracker," "Cinderella," "Swan Lake," "The Sleeping Beauty," "Paquita" and other major classics when she served as co-artistic director of the Tennessee Festival Ballet from 1982 to 1984.
Known for her interpretations of the Russian classics, Ms. Holmes has produced or set these great works in Lisbon, Oslo, Helsinki, Antwerp, Naples, Florence, New York and Tokyo. In 1996, Ms. Holmes staged "The Sleeping Beauty" for Florence's Maggio Musicale and in 1997 "Swan Lake" for Den Norske Oper Ballet. She has taught and restaged many of the classics in America for such companies as Dance Theater of Harlem and American Ballet Theatre. Her 1998 staging of "Le Corsaire" appeared on PBS's "Great Performances", for which it won an Emmy Award in 2000.
Ms. Holmes joined Boston Ballet in 1985 and in 1997 was named Artistic Director of the company as well as Dean of Faculty for the Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education. During her tenure with Boston Ballet, Ms. Holmes created new stagings of many ballets, including "Giselle," "Don Quixote," "La Bayadere," "Swan Lake" and "The Sleeping Beauty." Ms. Holmes was Artistic Director of the School of the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi in 1990 and 1994 and in 1997 she received the Dance Magazine Award for extraordinary and lasting contributions to the art form. In 2004 she staged "La Bayadere" for the Royal Ballet of Flanders and "Raymonda" for both the National Ballet of Finland and American Ballet Theatre, in addition to teaching at the Royal Ballet in London, Ballet du Capitole in Toulouse and the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen. In 2004-05 Ms. Holmes became the first recipient of the North Carolina School of the Arts Rudolf Nureyev Endowed Distinguished Professorship in Ballet. In 2005 she coached "Swan Lake" at the Den Norske Oper Ballet and "Giselle" at the Royal Ballet of Flanders, as well as teaching at the Den Norske Oper Ballet, Ballet du Capitole in Toulouse, mounting Laurencia pas d'action for the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago and preparing American Ballet Theatre for "Le Corsaire" and "Raymonda." Ms. Holmes completed her seventh season as the director of the ballet program at Jacob’s Pillow in the summer of 2006. She staged "Jardin Anime" for the Goh Ballet in Canada and restaged "Le Corsaire" for American Ballet Theatre for touring and for the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. She was guest teacher for the Houston and Knoxville Regional Ballet Festivals, the North Carolina School for the Arts, Atlanta Ballet, Miami competition and Houston and Milwaukee Ballets
Anna-Marie, in conjunction with Kevin Galie, has a publishing house called "Editions Anna-Marie Holmes". They have newly orchestrated and printed piano and orchestral music of La Bayadere, Le Corsaire, Laurencia and Flames of Paris. She is artistic advisor for Atlantic Ballet Theater of Canada, an innovative new company. This will be Ms. Holmes' eighth season as artistic director of the ballet program at Jacob's Pillow in Massachusetts in June 2007 (a two week intensive ballet program). In 2007 she will also teach at the North Carolina School of the Arts, New Zealand Dance School, and will restage her full length Swan Lake for the Norwegian National Ballet.
