Jeffrey Cirio (born 1991) is an American ballet dancer. He joined the

Boston Ballet The Boston Ballet is an American professional classical ballet company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams and Sydney Leonard, and was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. I ...

in 2009, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2012. In 2015, he moved to the

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

as a soloist, and was promoted to principal dancer the following year. In 2018, he joined the English National Ballet as a principal dancer. He will return to Boston Ballet in the 2022/23 season.

Early life

Cirio was raised in Philadelphia. His father immigrated to the US from the Philippines as a child; his mother is of Irish and German descent. When he was seven, his family moved to

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

as his sister, Lia, was training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Cirio himself started ballet training there two years later, and was homeschooled. The Cirios later moved to Boston when Lia became an apprentice at the

. Cirio also trained at the Boston Ballet, and Orlando Ballet School.

Career

Cirio joined the corps de ballet of

in 2009, and was promoted to Principal at the company in 2012. In 2015, he left Boston Ballet to join the

as a Soloist. He debuted his first full-length role during the Metropolitan Opera House season as Colas in '' La fille mal gardée''. Cirio's promotion to Principal Dancer at ABT was announced by Kevin McKenzie in July 2016, making him the first Filipino-American male principal in the company's history. In 2018, Cirio joined the English National Ballet as a lead principal dancer, after spending four months with the company as a guest artist. In 2022, it was announced that Cirio would return to Boston Ballet in the 2022-23 season but would make guest appearances in May prior to his official return. Cirio and his sister, Lia, also a Principal Dancer at

, established an artistic collective called Cirio Collective in 2015.

Selected repertoire

Cirio's repertoire with the Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and English National Ballet includes:

Awards

Awards: *Junior Gold Medal YAGP (2006) *Bronze Medal, USA Int’l Ballet Competition (2006) *Silver Medal, Seoul Int’l Dance Competition (2008) *Gold Medal, Helsinki International Ballet Competition (2009) *Senior Grand Prix YAGP (2009) *NFAA Silver Level Award (2009) *Princess Grace Fellowship (2009) *UK National Dance Award Nomination (2013) *Benois de la Danse Nomination (2017)
* UK National Dance Award Best Male Dancer (2023)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cirio, Jeffrey American male ballet dancers Princess Grace Awards winners 1991 births Living people English National Ballet principal dancers American Ballet Theatre principal dancers Boston Ballet principal dancers American expatriates in England American dancers of Asian descent American people of Filipino descent American people of Irish descent American people of German descent 21st-century American ballet dancers Dancers from Pennsylvania