Dancers

Ricardo Bustamante

Born: Medellin, Colombia

Joined in 1980. Named Principal Character Dancer in 2007.

Born in Medellin, Colombia, Ricardo Bustamante began his dance training at the age of eight, at the Academia de Ballet de Medellin. After dancing a diverse repertory as a principal dancer at San Francisco Ballet, he joined American Ballet Theatre in 1985, at the invitation of Mikhail Baryshnikov. While performing with ABT over the next nine years, he toured twice with “Rudolf Nureyev and Friends”, and starred in two productions that aired on PBS’ Dance in America series. In addition, Bustamante was a frequent international guest artist.

In 1994, he joined the SF Ballet School faculty, where he choreographed a number of works for the School including Baroque Divertissement, which was performed by both the School and students from Le Jeune Ballet de France. Beginning in 1998, Bustamante successfully led Argentina’s famous Ballet Teatro Colón, as artistic director. From 2000–03, Bustamante directed and choreographed for the Ballet de Santiago in Chile, where he created his own version of The Nutcracker and Le Corsaire to popular acclaim. In 2004, he joined SF Ballet as a ballet master and principal character dancer. In February 2009, along with Rachel Beaujean, Bustamante set his own production of Giselle at Het Nationale Ballet.

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Headshots by David Allen