Gladisa Guadalupe is the award-winning artistic director and co-founder of the current Cleveland Ballet, founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 2014.

Life and career

A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Guadalupe began her classical ballet training with Ballets de San Juan, becoming one the company’s youngest members.''Fall Collection'', Playhouse Square playbill. (Dates: October 19-20, 2018.) Retrieved August 11, 202

/ref> As a young teenager, Guadalupe relocated to the United States on a scholarship to study under

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

, father of American ballet, at the prestigious

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

in New York City. Upon completing her studies, Guadalupe became a Principal Dancer, performing with the Ballets de San Juan, Ballet Nuevo Mundo de Caracas, Cleveland San Jose Ballet, and the second incarnation of Cleveland Ballet (1972-2000). She has danced under choreographers George Balanchine, Dennis Nahat, Ian Horvath, Margot Sappington, Ana Garcia, John Butler, Choo San Goh, and Louis Falco. Guadalupe has toured

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, South America, Asia, and Europe as a Principal Dancer. In 2000, Guadalupe founded the Cleveland School of Dance (now known as the School of Cleveland Ballet). In addition to serving as the school’s Director and Principal teacher, Guadalupe has also been an adjunct instructor for the Cecchetti Council of America, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet de San Juan, Ballet San Jose, Ohio Ballet, Rochester School of Ballet, and the University of Akron.

Cleveland Ballet

In 2014, Guadalupe and Ukrainian businessman Michael Krasnyansky, founded a new incarnation of Cleveland Ballet to fill the city's void of a resident professional ballet company. The company has grown from 5 to 26 professional dancers, who have represented a total of 11 different nations in the initial five seasons. A resident company of

Playhouse Square Playhouse Square is a theater district in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is the largest performing arts center in the US outside of New York City (only Lincoln Center is larger). Constructed in a span of 19 months in the early 1920s, ...

, Cleveland Ballet has earned critical acclaim and is one of the fastest growing ballet companies in the U.S. In July 2015, Guadalupe was invited to serve on the Alumni Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion at the School of American Ballet, official school of the New York City Ballet. She has received recognition as a Distinguished Teacher in the Arts and for Promotion of Excellence in the Arts by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Her extensive ballet experience as a Principal Dancer combined with her B.S. degree in psychology from

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...

gives her a unique perspective as both a teacher and choreographer. For her exceptional work with the ballet as its Artistic Director, Guadalupe received the YWCA's Women of Achievement award in 2021. In 2022, she was honored with an Ohio Arts Council Governor's Award under its Arts Administration category for her leadership and artistic vision in both the school and company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guadalupe, Gladisa Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American ballet dancers Puerto Rican dancers Ballet teachers People from San Juan, Puerto Rico Principal dancers Ballet choreographers Cleveland State University alumni