Karel Cruz

Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Karel Cruz. Photo © Angela Sterling.

 

 

 

Meet Karel

Karel Cruz is from Holguin, Cuba, and received his training at Cuba’s Escuela Nacional de Artes. He joined Ballet Nacional de Cuba in 1996 and left in 1998 to join Ballet Clasico de Camara in Venezuela. From 1999 to 2000, he danced with Teatro Teresa Carreno, also in Venezuela. After coming to the United States, Mr. Cruz spent a year at the Rock School before joining Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2002. He was promoted to soloist in 2007 and principal in 2009.

Leading Roles
George Balanchine's Agon, Coppélia, Diamonds, Emeralds, The Four Temperaments, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Cavalier, Divertissement pas de deux, Theseus), Serenade, Symphony in C, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and La Valse; Peter Boal’s Giselle (Albrecht); Val Caniparoli's The Bridge; Ulysses Dove's Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven and Serious Pleasures; Nacho Duato’s Jardí Tancat; William Forsythe's Artifact II; Paul Gibson's The Piano Dance and Sense of Doubt; Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow and The Sleeping Beauty (Prince Florimund, Gold and Silver pas de trois); Jiri Kylian's Petite Mort; Edwaard Liang's Für Alina; Stacy Lowenberg's Rushed Goodbye; Jean-Christophe Maillot's Roméo et Juliette (Friar Laurence); Mark Morris’ Pacific; Toni Pimble's Two's Company; Alexei Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH; Jerome Robbins'Dances at a Gathering, Glass Pieces, In the Night, and West Side Story Suite (Bernardo); Kent Stowell'sCarmina Burana, Cinderella (Prince), Firebird, Nutcracker (Prince), Swan Lake (Prince Siegfried), andThe Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (Tybalt); Lynne Taylor-Corbett's Mercury; Richard Tanner's Ancient Airs and Dances; Twyla Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs, Opus 111, and Waterbaby Bagatelles; and Christopher Wheeldon's After the Rain pas de deux.

Originated Leading Roles: Kiyon Gaines' M-Pulse and Val Caniparoli's The Seasons.