Hometown: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Nathalia Arja was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she began taking dance classes at the age of five at Escola de Danca Alice Arja. At 14, she began dancing with the Compania de Ballet do Rio de Janeiro. During her year with the company in Brazil, Arja also competed in and won several dance competitions where she was offered a scholarship for El Teatro Colón, El Ballet de Santiago, Joffrey Ballet School and Canada’s National Ballet School.
At 15, she received a full scholarship to attend Miami City Ballet School where she trained for three years. She joined Miami City Ballet as a school apprentice in 2009 and was promoted to member of the corps de ballet in 2011. She was promoted to soloist in 2014 and principal soloist in 2016. In March 2020 Nathalia was promoted to Principal.
Roles since joining MCB
Richard Alston
Carmen
Sir Frederick Ashton
Les Patineurs
George Balanchine
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena)
Apollo
Ballet Imperial
Ballo della Regina
Bourrée Fantasque
Diana and Actaeon
Divertimento No. 15
Episodes
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® (Sugarplum Fairy, Dewdrop)
La Sonnambula
La Valse
Raymonda Variations
Serenade
Scotch Symphony
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Square Dance
Swan Lake
Symphony in C
Symphony in Three Movements
The Four Temperaments
Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux
Western Symphony
Who Cares?
George Balanchine/Jerome Robbins
Firebird
John Cranko
Romeo and Juliet
Nacho Duato
Jardí Tacat
Peter Martins
Barber Violin Concerto
Justin Peck
Heatscape
Year of the Rabbit
Alexei Ratmansky
Symphonic Dances
Jerome Robbins
Dances at a Gathering
Fanfare
West Side Story Suite
Liam Scarlett
Euphotic
Viscera
Claudia Schreier
Places
Paul Taylor
Company B
Mercuric Tidings
Piazzolla Caldera
Promethean Fire
Twyla Tharp
In the Upper Room
Nine Sinatra Songs
Christopher Wheeldon
Polyphonia
Classical Repertoire
Coppélia, Arthur Saint-Léon
Don Quixote, Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky (Kitri)
Giselle, Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot
Arja has originated roles in Alexei Ratmansky’s Symphonic Dances and Liam Scarlett’s Euphotic.
* Miami City Ballet School Alumni