Laura Urgellés, of Cuba, is in her eighth season with The Washington Ballet. She was trained at the Vocational School of the Arts in Camagüey and at the Professional School of Ballet and Plastic Arts, where she graduated with honors. She started her professional career with Cuba’s Ballet of Camagüey under the direction of Fernando Alonso, where she danced principal roles of their classical, neoclassical and contemporary repertoire. After a brief period dancing with Ballet of Monterrey in Mexico, she came to the U.S in 1995. Ms. Urgellés has danced as a principal with Hartford Ballet, Miami Hispanic Ballet and Maximum Dance Company, and as a guest artist with many companies around the world. Her repertoire includes the principal roles in Giselle, La Fille Mal Gardeé, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Paquita, Coppélia, Le Espectre de la Rose, Les Sylphides and in works by George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Choo-San Goh, Jean Grand-Maitrê, Trey McIntyre, Septime Webre, Fernando Bujones and others. Ms. Urgellés is the recipient of the Gold Medal and the Grand Prix of the VII International Ballet Competition of Trujillo, Peru. In 1996, she was honored by the Association of Critics of the Arts in Miami with the Annual Dance Award.