Colombo-Belgian Annabelle Lopez Ochoa completed her dance studies at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp, Belgium. In 2003, following her 12-year career in various European dance companies, Ms. Lopez Ochoa decided to focus solely on choreography. In that same year she was hailed “rising star of the Dutch dance scene” (NRC newspaper) and seven years later, the Temecula Performing Arts Examiner wrote, “Ochoa is truly a masterful choreographer with an edge for what dance can and should be in this constantly changing industry.”
Ms. Lopez Ochoa is a versatile choreographer who works regularly with dance companies, but also creates for theater, opera, musical theater, and (in 2006), for celebrated Dutch fashion designers Viktor & Rolf’s project at the Van Gogh Museum. She belongs to the Theater-Dance collective “Fantasten” with whom she’s created five full-length pieces. In 2012, she created her first full-length ballet, A Streetcar Named Desire, for the Scottish Ballet.
Ms. Lopez Ochoa’s critically acclaimed piece, Before After, is known as her signature piece. Created in 2002 for Dutch National Ballet, the work is in the repertory of Ballet Nacional Dominicano, Gothenburg Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, Finnish National Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. The work has also been performed at celebrated festivals including, Dance Passion Festival in the Netherlands, New York Fall for Dance Festival, Houston Dance Salad Festival, and the 2007 Orange County Fall for Dance Festival.