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
Agon
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena, Lead Butterfly)
Apollo
Ballet Imperial
Ballo della Regina
Bourrée Fantasque
Diana and Actaeon
Divertimento No. 15
Episodes
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® (Sugarplum Fairy, Dewdrop)
Jewels (Rubies and Emeralds)
La Sonnambula
La Valse
Raymonda Variations
Serenade
Scotch Symphony
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Square Dance
Stravinsky Violin Concerto
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
William Forsythe
Herman Scherman
Alonzo King
Following the Subtle Current Upstream
Pontus Lidberg
Petrichor
Peter Martins
Barber Violin Concerto
Justin Peck
Heatscape
Year of the Rabbit
Alexei Ratmansky
Concerto DSCH
Symphonic Dances
Jerome Robbins
Antique Epigraphs
Dances at a Gathering
Fanfare
West Side Story Suite (Anita)
Jamar Roberts
Sea Change
Liam Scarlett
Euphotic
Viscera
Claudia Schreier
Places
The Source
Paul Taylor
Company B
Mercuric Tidings
Piazzolla Caldera
Promethean Fire
Twyla Tharp
In the Upper Room (Stompers)
Nine Sinatra Songs
Christopher Wheeldon
Polyphonia
Durante Verzola
Sentimiento
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 Pontus Lidberg's Petrichor, Alexei Ratmansky’s Symphonic Dances, Jamar Robert's Sea Change, Liam Scarlett’s Euphotic, Claudia Schreier's The Source, and Durante Verzola's Sentimiento.