When Angel Corella first auditioned for the American Ballet Theatre, the company’s principal dancer of 16 years likened himself to a creature not known for its graceful moves.
“I was like the Tasmanian Devil, bouncing through double air turns with so much energy and life,” Corella recalls of his tryout for artistic director Kevin McKenzie.
“He offered me a soloist contract,” says Corella, who was only 19 at the time. “In my innocence, I asked, ‘Well, why not principal?’ ”
Less than a year after that 1995 move from his native Spain to New York, Corella’s exuberance and virtuoso tricks shot him to top billing at American Ballet Theatre.
Now, the performer — who some called the Spanish Baryshnikov — is retiring from ABT and going home to Spain. His farewell performance is tomorrow night at the Metropolitan Opera House.
Corella has come a long way since his ABT audition. He didn’t speak a word of English then, and learned, in part, from “Scooby-Doo” cartoons on TV.
Yet before he moved here, he almost quit dancing. Unhappy in Spain, he stopped for two months before a friend pushed him to enter an international competition in Paris. He did so with borrowed costumes and no coaching — and he won.
As a top ABT dancer, he galvanized audiences with his brilliant scissoring jumps and endless turns in “Le Corsaire” and other showpieces. Corella danced for Bill Clinton at the Kennedy Center, was a guest with the Royal and Kirov ballets and matured from a virtuoso to an artist.
New York audiences watched Corella grow up onstage, but in some ways, the 36-year-old still resembles a boy — just as much for his mop of brown hair and wiry frame as his easy smile and the twinkle in his eyes.
Four years ago, he founded his own company in Barcelona, and his trans-Atlantic duties gradually became too much. He wanted to leave quietly. “I was going to just step out, and that would be it,” he says, but McKenzie objected on behalf of his fans. So for tomorrow’s final appearance, Corella has chosen to dance one of the best-loved ballets, “Swan Lake,” with one of his earliest partners, Paloma Herrera.
“Our first year dancing together was tense,” he says. “We were the same age, but she was already a huge star, and it was an adjustment for her to be forced to share the spotlight. But she did, and the next year, we became like one.”
This may be his last night at ABT, but Corella isn’t retiring. He’ll still dance with the Spanish troupe that was once the Corella Ballet, but has since renamed itself Barcelona Ballet. The troupe’s toured New York twice already, so we aren’t seeing the last of him.
He admits he will miss ew York, especially Broadway — he’s seen “Wicked” three or four times. He’s brought his American cartoons — especially “Scooby-Doo” — back to Spain already.
Performing “Swan Lake” means wearing white tights — and maintaining a strict diet — so he has big plans on Friday: “I’m going to cut my hair, stop in at Levain Bakery and order two enormous cookies.”
Angel Corella gives his farewell performance with American Ballet Theatre tomorrow evening at the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center.; abt.org or 212-362-2000.