Vicente Balbino Nebreda Arias (Caracas, Venezuela, March 31, 1920 – ibid, May 26, 2002) was a choreographer and dancer who was considered a Venezuelan pioneer for dance during the 1940s. He was part of the Cátedra de Ballet del Liceo Andrés Bello, the first attempt at a formal dance school in the country. Later on, he danced with Ballet Nacional de Venezuela, the first long term professional company. Nebrada was also one of the first Venezuelan dancers to have an international career, he worked with Roland Petit’s company in France, the Joffrey Ballet, the Harkness Ballet in the United States, and Ballet Nacional de Cuba. His extensive career as a choreographer began in 1958, when he began his professional career, and ended with the creation of his version of The Nutcracker in 1996. He created 61 original choreographies and adaptations of universally classic repertoires for diverse companies all over the world.

In 1975, Nebrada helped found the International Ballet of Caracas and became their artistic director and resident choreographer in 1977. In 1984, he became the artistic director of the National Ballet of Caracas, where he remained until his death due to leukemia in 2002 at age 72. His dances have been performed by Ballet Hispanico, American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, National Ballet of Canada, Berlin Opera Ballet, English National Ballet, Australian Ballet and the Universal Ballet of Korea.

Nebrada was born in the San José parish of Caracas. He was the son of Alejandro Nebreda and Josefina Arias. He was the youngest of five siblings in a middle-class family, who descended from Spanish immigrants. His father was a tailor and owner of a leather goods store, which was located in the center of the city. His mother was a housewife and dedicated herself exclusively to caring for the family and raising the children.

Vicente went to elementary school at the Venezuela Experimental School, which was a school where new forms of teaching were put into practice. There he met Isaac Chocrón and Román Chalbaud, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. The school taught music, dance and theater classes, in addition to the formal elementary school subjects, and had a team of teachers who made innovation in education their goal and put into practice new methods so that the student could make the most of their time at school. Steffy Stahl, an Austrian teacher hired by the Venezuelan state, taught the rhythmic gymnastics course applying the Dalcroze method and put on end-of-year shows in which Vicente played the Indian Guaicaipuro.

His artistic inclinations took hold in his adolescence. He had a particular taste for cinema, which he attended with some regularity. In 1945, he attended a performance at the Teatro Municipal de Caracas of the Compañía de Cantos y Danzas de España directed by dancer Joaquín Pérez Fernández, which sparked his interest in this artistic form. Later that same year, the season of Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes was presented, also at the Teatro Municipal, a company that was made up of some former dancers from Diaghilev's extinct company. Four of its members, the Argentine spouses Hery and Luz Thomson, and the Irish David and Eva Grey, decided to stay in Venezuela fleeing the misery in which Europe was mired after the Second World War. These dancers began to teach private classes and proposed to the director of the Liceo Andrés Bello, Dionisio López Orihuela, to open a ballet class in that educational institution. The director liked the idea and towards the end of 1945, classes began at the Ballet Chair at the Liceo Andrés Bello. Vicente was a high school student and immediately enrolled in the new course and began his dance studies.

The Thomson couple soon undertook another project outside the Liceo Andrés Bello, El Club de Ballet. The chair remained in the hands of the Greys and Vicente decided to continue with the Thomsons. There he strengthened his friendship with those who would be his dance partners for years and with whom he would leave the country, Irma Contreras and Graciela Henríquez.

In 1948, he entered the Escuela Nacional de Ballet [es] (National Ballet School) directed by Nena Coronil [es]. Four years later, he traveled to New York to continue his ballet studies at the School of American Ballet with teachers Anatole Oboukoff, Pierre Vladimiroff and Edward Caton.

His style is undeniably Neoclassical. His duets or pas de deux are known for their plasticity, expressiveness and intricate lifts. His partnering style shows a great deal of upper-body freedom while the ballerina moves on and off-balance. His spatial designs are symmetrical, harmonious and often organic, with dancers moving across the stage, while lending a visceral sense of ownership to his dances.