Ballet News: Riolama Lorenzo to Retire

Pennsylvania Ballet’s beautiful Riolama Lorenzo just announced that she’ll be ending her performing career next month. It will be a sad loss for the company, and for the ballet world. Lorenzo moves with a natural grace, and has amazing, fluid extensions that seem to reach to eternity. At 5’8″, she’s also an inspiration for other tall dancers. She started her career at New York City Ballet, where as a young corps member, Lorenzo was a favorite of the legendary Jerome Robbins. After a three-year hiatus from dancing due to an injury, Lorenzo returned to the stage by joining Pennsylvania Ballet in 2002, which she described as her “perfect niche” in our interview with her in August/September 2010.

Lorenzo chose Matthew Neenan’s Keep to be her final performance on February 12 at 2 pm in Philadelphia’s Merriam Theater. See paballet.org for tickets.