Dalal Achcar
Ballerina and choreographer

Nora Esteves was always an example of professionalism as a dancer. Her technical perfection, allied to her intelligence, discipline and dedication inspire and stimulate all choreographers and rehearsers. It has always been a pleasure to work with an artist of this quality in all works created by me that she performed, such as “Amazon Forest”, “The Nutcracker” and “Don Quixote”.

Eliana Caminada
Ballerina, professor of Dance History and ballet critic.

When I met Nora Esteves, my youth partner and friend, she was already acknowledged as a prodigy. A prodigy that, let me explain, corresponds, up to current time, to the expectations that she has always aroused in the dance world.

Nora was born predestinated: being aware of the clear natural pre-requirements, she had talent, to which she allied a strong and non destroyable discipline, a quality that has followed her all her life. Nora is a person who cares for the minimum details and is the image of determination. The dance rewarded this availability assuring her, perhaps, the longest and uninterrupted career of our history.

It is not proper to talk in this testimony about the several roles she played, the fabulous choreographers with whom she worked, the powerful companies she integrated; this is part of her curriculum and it is so rich that can only have been developed by her. But I’d like to register my astonishment and admiration upon seeing her perform as the Prima Ballerina at 17 years old, dancing under William Dollar’s direction his most important work: “The Combat”. We are contemporaneous and it was extraordinary for me to see her maturity and courage to face such challenges.

Nora continues astonishing me either as a ballerina, still performing, or rehearser and choreographer. A full professional, truly Brazilian in her option to remain at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, who deserves from her colleagues, company and Country all homage. And from me the reaffirmation of my friendship and admiration for her beautiful life course.

Emilio Martins
Ex Primeiro Bailarino do Ballet do Theatro Municipal e hoje coreólogo do ballet "La Fille Mal Gardée" de Sir Frederick Ashton.

Nora Esteves is the Prima Ballerina of the Ballet of the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro. Since an early age, she showed her innate talent. We attended the same Dance Academy and had Tatiana Leskova as our teacher.

In one of the year-end Festivals of the Academy, Ms. Tania choreographed a suite of "Midsummer night’s dream" with music by Mendelssohn and the prelude for the trumpet was a pas-de-deux for Nora and one for me – my first pas-de-deux– and, with this, I became Nora’s first partnaire.

We became professionals in the Ballet of the Municipal Theater and for several times we danced together again. When she was a young girl Nora received the title of Prima Ballerina. Nora illustrated a classic ballet class in a DVD and I was invited to make the Artistic Direction of it, a work that gave me much pleasure.

Nora attended my classes often at Studio 88 and, for me, it was very good to deliver a class for such a professional ballerina and, for the apprentice students, it was a great stimulus. Our friendship is a big and constant one.

Eugenia Feodorova
Professor and choreographer

Provided with exceptional talents for the classic dance and extremely musical, Nora Esteves is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding artists of our ballet. Being the Prima Ballerina of the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, she played along her career, with a great success, all the main roles of the classic repertoire. Smart, learned and very disciplined both in her art and life, Nora honored with a great worth her position of Prima Ballerina, being an example for any ballet company.

Tatiana Leskova
Professor and choreographer

When a girl called Nora arrived in my Academy, I saw in her little body of “Degas’ Ballerina” the qualities and the exceptional talents required to be a professional ballerina in the future. Since she was a young girl, Nora has always been serious, disciplined and honest in her work and, with this, she rapidly made great progresses, well-deservedly reaching the position of Prima Ballerina of the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro at 17 years old.

With courage and determination (still an adolescent), she traveled abroad looking for further knowledge and opportunities, dancing in New York at the Joffrey Ballet. Later, in Europe, already as the Prima Ballerina in the Roland Petit’s Marseille Ballet, Nancy Ballet and in Robert Hossein’s Company, as well as a guest in several cities and theaters in Italy.

A beautiful international career of a Brazilian ballerina, who, upon returning to Brazil, continued to distinguish herself as the Prima Ballerina in the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, dancing repertoire and modern ballets of the best Brazilian and foreign choreographers. Currently, Nora transmits her valuable knowledge to the new generations of ballerinas of the Country.

I am happy to see this girl who arrived in my Academy at 8 or 9 years of age be what she is today... Congratulations!

Maribel Portinari
Journalist, writer, Chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres.

Graduated by Escola de Dança Maria Olenewa, in Rio, Nora Esteves was born in Rio Grande do Sul, joined the Ballet of the Municipal Theater in 1965. Just afterwards, she spent one year at the New York-based Joffrey Ballet with a scholarship, also participating of the professional group. Back to Rio, she revealed herself in important works such as "The Combat”, “Daphnis et Chloé" and "The Firebird".

With a slim physique, a rarity at that time among Brazilian Ballerinas, with a strong and safe technique, she impressed choreographer George Skibine, who took her to France. There, Nora worked with the Ballet Populaire de Reims, playing the title-role of "Sheherazade". She also worked with other companies such as Les Ballets de Marseille, Ballet Théâtre de Nancy, Ballet de Munich and the Ballet of the Massimo Theater of Palermo. She returned to the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, which was in an excellent phase, and under Dalal Achcar’s direction since 1981.

Nora, then, danced the traditional repertoire: "Coppelia", "Swan Lake", "Giselle", "Don Quixote", always with quite a success. Dalal Achcar gave to her the main role of "Amazon Forest" (1985 version), a work that has been created by Margot Fonteyn. Overcoming a severe problem in Achilles’ tendon, Nora began to dance again with the same technique as she ever had. She still is in the Ballet of the Municipal Theater and, recently, she also created the choreography of the musical “Imperium”, a ticket-office and art critic success