It’s a blow for Britain’s ballet scene, where the sharply intelligent Rojo has been an innovative leader and an articulate advocate for the art form, turning ENB from a respected but unexciting touring company into a news-making organisation.It doesn’t feel that long since Rojo arrived in the job but it’s almost 10 years – testament to the fact that things have never become predictable in her time there. When she started, she was one of the world’s leading dancers at the Royal Ballet, with little management experience but plenty of brains and ambition.
Lyndsey Winship in The Guardian
The BBC series Agony and Ecstasy: A Year with English National ballet - which marked the company's 60th anniversary - which aired in 2011 served to highlight a company that was somehow mired in the past and struggling to stay relevant and financially viable. The appointment of Tamara Rojo was a brilliant and unexpected move that has seen her lead the transformation of the company into one that is more modern, exciting and progressive and inclusive.
ENB and British ballet are in a better place thanks to this remarkable and accomplished woman and it is testament to her success that she is moving on to become the first female Artistic Director at SNB in its 89-year history. But her loss to dance in the UK is major and there will be a nervous wait to see who is named to replace her.
My personal highlights of her tenure have been the opportunity to see Pina Bausch's Rite of Spring twice - for which she obtained permission for the company to stage; the Lest We Forget programme - where she successfully brought new choreography into the company in the shape of Liam Scarlett, Russell Maliphant and Akram Khan; and Akram Khan's triumphant version of Giselle - which I saw on opening night at the Palace Theatre in Manchester and for a third time in Liverpool on the night that it was filmed for broadcast and DVD. Rojo herself performed the title role that night - bringing a weight and defiance to the character that was deeply moving. In fact, it was always a joy whenever she took to the stage and she remains one of the greatest ballerinas I have personally had the privilege of seeing.