Vicente Nebrada

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In 1952 he received an invitation from Alicia Alonsato join her dance company in Havana, Cuba. After almost a year of work, he injured his knee and decided to return to Venezuela in 1953 in order to recover. After his recovery he joined the recently created company, Ballet Nena Coronil. With this company he adapted and interpreted ballets from classic repertoire and began to create choreographies; his adapted pieces of Les Sylphides, Aurora Wedding (act III), and an original work: Concerto in Warsaw, are from this time. On November 15, 1953 the television station Radio Caracas Televisiónwas founded and on the 16 broadcasts began, Ballet Nena Coranil was part of the first broadcast with Vicente’s adaptation of the ballet Les Sylphides, where he performed the principal role with Irma Contreras and Graciela Henríquez. He also was part of the first professional show that the company performed in Teatro Municipal of Caracas.

After two years of work with the Nena Coronil company, Nebrada along with his inseparable friends of the time, Irma Contreras and Graciela Henríquez, realized that to continue their professional careers they should travel outside of the country. It was then that Irma Contreras, using her close contacts to Marcos Pérez Jiménez,got an appointment with him and asked for a scholarship for the three to study outside of the country. Pérez Jiménez granted them the scholarships and paid their airfares. In 1955 they resigned from Ballet Nena Coronil and traveled to France, funded by the Venezuelan government, and settled in Paris. Ballet Nena Coronil closed shortly after this. A main factor of the closure was that Margot Contreras, Irma’s sister, left the company and started a new ballet school, Academia Interamericana de Ballet and Ballet Interamericano de Venezuela, opening its doors to the prior students and dancers from Nena Coronil.

The same year Vicente joined Roland Petit’s company, in Paris. In addition to dancing he created two small pieces for the company, Pas de Deux and Dance of the Adolescents. A year later he moved to the company Las Estrellas de Montecarlo. Little more than a catalog or program is known about his involvement in this company.

In 1957 he returned to Venezuela with Irma Contreras, who joined Ballet Nacional de Venezuela together with her sister, Margot. Vicente worked in the new company as a soloist and choreographer. He created two works for this company, Fifth Symphony with Tchaikovsky’s music and The Waltz with Maurice Ravel’s music.

Determined to continue his international career and seeing The United States as his goal, he auditioned for the Joffrey Balletin 1958. This company was funded by billionaire Rebekah Harknesswho inherited her husband’s fortune, he owned shares in the holdings of Standard Oiland, thanks to her investment, the Joffrey company paid the dancers, hired choreographers, and performed shows and tours. Rebekah called for more participation in the artistic decision making and for the company to be named in Harkness’ honor. Robert Joffrey, who was the director and founder of the company, did not accept Rebekah’s demands and the Harkess Foundation withdrew its sponsorship. Then in 1964 Rebekah founded Harkness Ballet, and hired many of the dancers who formed Joffrey Ballet, including Vicente.

The Harkness Ballethad its premiere outside of the United States in 1965, in Cannes,with George Skibine as director and a repertoire composed of works by Alvin Ailey, George Skibine, Erik Bruhn, Brian Macdonald, and Stuart Hodes. The company’s work was initially overseas and they were immediately successful.

In 1967, tired of dance, with an injured body, and feeling like he was at the age of retirement, he decided to speak with Rebekah and asked her for the opportunity to begin his career as a choreographer and for a smooth transition. Rebekah accepted his proposal and allowed him to begin his choreographic work with the junior company. Vicente started to create the work Caín that was revised and evaluated in the studios by the company’s direction, which earned him the opportunity to continue working in the choreographic realm. Thanks to this opportunity in 1969 he created, what would be his first international success, Percussion for Six Men with the music of Lee Gurst. This piece was presented in 1969 and immediately became part of the company’s professional repertoire, which it took to a festival in Germany, receiving great reviews from the judges. This success definitely opened the doors for Harkness Ballet to dedicate itself to choreography and stop interpretation. He retired as a dancer in 1970, at 40 years old. He created a total of 8 pieces for the company: Percussion for six men, Schubert Variations, Percussion for Six Women, Geminis, Moonlight, Sebastian, and Shadows and Memories. Being in the company he established his relationship with the dancer Zane Wilson, who would become his good companion and dedicated assistant for more than 30 years and who would accompany and support him in all of his companies.

The company dissolved in 1975 and many of the dancers were incorporated into different companies around the world, among these Ballet Internacional de Caracas, under the artistic direction of Vicente Nebrada and Zhandra Rodríguez.

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