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Annabelle Lopez Ochoa is a world-class choreographer. Thanks to her passion for the arts and her stylish approach to dance, Lopez Ochoa has climbed the ranks and become one of the most sought-after choreographers, creating over 100 plays for 80 dance companies from all over the world.
Her dances have been performed all through Europe, including "Broken Wings," inspired on the life of Frida Kahlo and created alongside the English National Ballet.
"It took me a while to realize that that was part of my identity. I think that for a lot of mixed kids that can be confusing. At some point, when I was a kid, I had to face racist comments from other kids."
The daughter of a Colombian father and a Belgian mother, Lopez Ochoa grew up immersed in two cultures. "At home we spoke Spanish since we were little, but I was four years old when we started speaking French. We listened to Mexican and Colombian music, which I hated when I was young. Now I love it. The two cultures were so present," she said while speaking to the international organization of choreographers, Dance Icons.
She discovered her passion for choreography when she was 11 years old, even before discovering dance. "Mi teacher, right around winter vacations, came over and she said, 'Instead of classes today, I'm going to leave you alone with the piano player. You're going to create and choreograph while I'm gonna get a coffee.' I didn't even know what that word meant. In an hour, my friend and I made something up," she said. She thought, "Wow, if I could do this for the rest of my life, I'd be the happiest person in the world."
"I knew that I wanted to be a choreographer but first I had to understand what it was to be a dancer in a company. I had to go through the ups and downs of being a dancer: to be tired, to be bored, to be turned down, for your body to grow old."
Lopez Ochoa began her career as a dancer in Antwerp, Belgium, the city where she was born. Her talent allowed her to work in various German dance companies until she joined the Ballet Scapino Rotterdam in 1997, where she became a soloist for over seven years. After a career of 12 years in various European companies, in 2003, Lopez Ochoa focused on choreography.
Her first long-length ballet was "A Streetcar Named Desire," a collaboration with the theater director Nancy Meckler for the Scottish Ballet, and it was a successful and acclaimed production, receiving various awards. In 2010, the Temecula Performing Arts Examiner wrote:
"Ochoa is truly a masterful choreographer, with a vision of what dance can and should be in this industry of constant change."
Throughout her career, Lopez Ochoa has won numerous awards and recognitions. Most recently, she won the San Francisco Classical Voice Audience Award for her work "Frida," interpreted by the Dutch National Ballet, in 2023.