Born in Caracas, Venezuela Karina Gonzalez started her ballet training at the Gustavo Franklin Ballet School at age 7. She danced professionally with Ballet National of Caracas, Tulsa Ballet and Houston Ballet. She is a silver medal winner of the New York International Ballet competition.
Ms. Gonzalez joined Houston Ballet in 2013 as a soloist and was promoted to a principal dancer after her debut as Nikiya in Stanton Welch’s La Bayadere. She has danced principal roles by the world's world class choreographers including Ben Stevenson, Andre Prokovsy, John Cranko, George Balanchine, Nacho Duato, Jiří Kylián, John Neumeier, Jerome Robbin, Wayne McGregor, Justin Peck, Jorma Elo, James Kudelka and many others.
Gonzalez had the opportunity to have roles created on her, while getting acclaimed reviews . One of the most memorable were the role of Juliet in Welch’s Romeo and Juliet and the most recent, the role of Sylvia in Stanton Welch’s Sylvia. She has been invited at the Gala International Colombia and at the New York International Ballet Competition's Gala. Her first appearance as a guest dancer with a full length ballet was with Ballet Estable del Teatro Colon in Argentina, performing the role of Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty. She participated in the Career Transition For Dancers' 26th Anniversary Jubilee in New York City and The Festival de Danza Cordoba in Mexico. She performed in the International Ballet Gala in Malaysia and was invited as a guest artist with Michele Wiles’s Ballet Next at the Joyce Theater in NYC. She was invited to guest with The Australian ballet to dance the role of Nikiya in Stanton's La Bayadere.
Gonzalez was invited to be guest artists with the Leipziger Ballet in Germany and was invited to participated at the 26th International Ballet Festival of Havana. In 2019, Ms. Gonzalez was invited to represent the first American Company to dance at the NHK Ballet Festival in Tokyo with her role of Juliet. She also made her second appearance with the Australian Ballet dancing the role of Sylvia (2020) and was invited to participate at Ballet Sun Valley special performance to their return to the stage after the COVID pandemic.
Gonzalez has been featured in many publications, being on the cover of Pointe Magazine, Dance Magazine and A+C Houston Magazine. She was name "Best dancer" by the Houston Press and was one of Pointe magazine's favorite performances of the year for her role of Nikiya in La Bayadere.
Gonzalez was highlighted in Kimberly Clark’s and Honda Civic's 2016 Television and Marketing campaign and was featured in Ed Sheeran's music video, “Put it all on me”.
Gonzalez has been recognized by The Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at their annual Gala and was name one of the 30th Most Influential Women in Houston.
González is a proud mother of a beautiful baby girl, Julia.
Karina Gonzalez Edwards
