Ioanna Avraam

Ioanna Avraam was born in Nikosia (Cyprus). She was educated at the Nadina Loizidou Ballet School in Limassol as well as at the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung/Ballet Academy in Munich. Her first performances she gave with Diastasis Ballet in Cyprus and with Bayerisches Staatsballett in Germany. In 2008 she joined the Ballett der Vienna State Operaund Volksoper. In 2010 she was promoted to demi-soloist of the Vienna State Ballet, in 2014 to soloist and in 2022 to first soloist. In 2023 she received the Artist Award of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts. In 2024, Ioanna Avraam was honoured twice: on 21 October, she received the Special Recognition Award of the Helena Vaz da Silva European Awards for Raising Public Awareness on Cultural Heritage at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. On 5 November, she was awarded the Nemitsas Prize in Classical Ballet in her home country of Cyprus.

Her large repertoire comprises the title role and Peasant pas de deux in Elena Tschernischova’s »Giselle«, the title roles in Michael Corder’s »The Snow Queen« and Boris Eifman’s »Giselle Rouge«, Tatjana in John Cranko's »Onegin«, Julia in Davide Bombana’s »Roméo et Juliette«, Kitri and Amor in Rudolf Nureyev’s »Don Quixote«, Odette/Odile in Nureyev’s »Swan Lake«, Luisa in Nureyev’s »The Nutcracker«, Clémence in Nureyev’s »Raymonda«, fairy of honour and Pas de quatre in Peter Wright’s »The Sleeping Beauty«, Marie Gräfin Larisch and princess Louisa in Kenneth MacMillan’s »Mayerling«, Lescauts beloved in MacMillan’s »Manon«, Helena in Jorma Elo’s "Ein Sommernachtstraum", Gulnare and Zulméa in Manuel Legris' »Le Corsaire«, Vivette in Roland Petit’s »L'Arlesienne«, Romola Nijinsky and Armide in John Neumeier’s »Le Pavillon d’Armide«, Prudence Duvernoy in Neumeierʼs »Lady of the Camellias«, Madame Elisabeth in Patrick de Bana’s »Marie Antoinette«, Ingrid, the bride, in Edward Clug’s »Peer Gynt«, Lilac Fairy in the world premiere of Martin Schläpfer's & Marius Petipa's »The Sleeping Beauty«. Moreover, she danced in works by George Balanchine, August Bournonville, Nils Christe, David Dawson, Michel Fokine, Andrey Kaydanovskiy, Jiří Kylián, Edwaard Liang, Serge Lifar, Thierry Malandain, Alexei Ratmansky, Jerome Robbins, Uwe Scholz, Heinz Spoerli, Stephan Thoss, Wachtang Tschabukiani, Rudi van Dantzig, Christopher Wheeldon, William Forsythe's »The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude« and »The Second Detail« sowie »Skew-Whiff« und »Source of Inspiration«. Furthermore, she performed in the world premieres of Patrick de Bana's »Windspiele«, Natalia Horecna's »Contra Clockwise Witness«, Antony McDonald's/Ashley Page's »Ein Reigen«, Daniel Proietto's »Blanc«, András Lukács’ »Movements to Stravinsky«, Pontus Lidberg's »Between Dogs and Wolves« and Martin Schläpfer's »4«, »The Seasons«, »Lontano«, »Marsch, Walzer, Polka« and »Ein Deutsches Requiem«.