- Principal Character Dancer
Kristi DeCaminada
Biography
Kristi DeCaminada is an esteemed teacher and dedicated dance educator who joined the SF Ballet School Faculty in 1995 and has been teaching for over 30 years. Known as Miss Kristi to her students, she has taught and continues to teach all levels of the professional division of the SF Ballet School and summer intensive including technique, pointe, repertory and pantomime and is the principal teacher for all levels of pre-ballet, creative dance, and creative movement. DeCaminada is a Principal Character Dancer for SF Ballet and performs character roles in SF Ballet productions and coaches the children’s roles in Nutcracker. She teaches the Pre-Ballet introduction classes for new students and the Pre-Ballet presentation class at SF Ballet School’s Spring Festival performance at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. With her love of teaching children and her early childhood education background, she is proud to have successfully reintroduced and developed SF Ballet School’s Pre-Ballet program and continues to work to further expand this program in the School and throughout the City.
In addition to her full time position on the faculty, DeCaminada teaches and choreographs the Nutcracker and repertory season classes for children and adults; the Family and Sensory Friendly and pre-performance workshops for Nutcracker and the repertory season; and teaches workshops for Classes in the Community and Adaptive Ballet.
DeCaminada is an alumna of SF Ballet School. She entered the School in Pre-Ballet and completed the entire professional curriculum studying and working with the most esteemed teachers and renowned choreographers. DeCaminada performed roles in SF Ballet’s Nutcracker, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Coppélia, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Symphony in C, Stars and Stripes, and many other company productions, including Opening Night Gala and Stern Grove. As a student in the School she was asked to perform children’s roles with world renowned ballet companies on tour at the War Memorial Opera House. DeCaminada joined SF Ballet as a Principal Character Dancer in the 2023–24 Season.
DeCaminada has taught for SF Ballet Education & Training Department’s Community Scholarship Program, and taught and choreographed for the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Summer Dance Camp Workshop at SF Ballet and the Western Addition. She has taught for numerous programs in the community including the Stern Grove Festival’s Kidstage, Let’s Dance! SF Public Library, Pier 39 and Westfield Center’s Holiday Festival, and the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. She has taught and developed ballet programs for the Chinatown YMCA, San Francisco and Bay Area Easter Seals, St. Luke’s Pre-School, the Hills Project Outreach Program working with SF Unified School District Principals and educators, as well as developing numerous other children’s ballet programs throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area.
DeCaminada earned her bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley as an alumni scholar with advanced studies specializing in education, teaching, dance and early childhood development. She is certified in Pilates from the Physical Mind Institute and has trained in Pilates at St. Francis Memorial Hospital Center for Dance Medicine.
Born
Vigo, Spain
Training
- Antonio Almenara
- Estudio de Danza de Maria Avila
San Francisco Ballet
- Joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2004
- Promoted to soloist in 2012
- Promoted to principal dancer in 2015
- Returned to the Company as a principal dancer in 2024
Other Companies
- Zurich Ballet
- BALANCHINE
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia)
Agon (1st Pas de trois)
Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (1st movement Soloist, 3rd movement Principal)
Coppélia (Swanilda, Swanilda’s Friends, Jesterettes)
Diamonds
Divertimento No. 15 (3rd Solo)
Emeralds (Pas de trois)
The Four Temperaments (1st Theme and Melancholic Demi-soloist)
Rubies
Scotch Symphony (Scotch Girl, Principal)
Serenade (Angel)
Stars and Stripes (Finale)
Stravinsky Violin Concerto
Symphony in C (1st movement Principal, 2nd movement Demi-soloist)
Symphony in Three Movements (1st movement)
Theme and Variations (Demi-soloist)
Who Cares?
Bournonville
La Sylphide (The Sylph)
Bintley
The Dance House
Bubeníček
Fragile Vessels (1st, 2nd, & 3rd movement Principal)
Caniparoli
Ibsen’s House (Rebecca West, Hedda Gabler)
Lambarena (Principal)
Cranko
Onegin (Olga)
Elo
Double Evil
Fokine
Petrouchka (Ballerina)
Forsythe
Artifact Suite
Blake Works I
Pas/Parts 2016 (originated)
The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude
Jenkins
Thread (originated)
Kobborg
Les Lutins (Principal)
Kudelka
The Ruins Proclaim The Building Was Beautiful
Liang
The Infinite Ocean (Principal)
Symphonic Dances
Lifar
Suite en Blanc (Pas de cinq, Sieste)
Lopez Ochoa
Guernica (originated)
Makarova after Petipa
La Bayadère, Act II (Solo Shade in “The Kingdom of the Shades”)
van Manen
Variations for Two Couples
Marston
Mrs. Robinson (originated Mrs. Robinson)
Snowblind (Mattie Silver)
McGregor
Borderlands
McIntyre
The Big Hunger (Principal)
de Mille
Rodeo
Millepied
Appassionata
Morris
Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes
Maelstrom
Sandpaper Ballet
Neumeier
The Little Mermaid (Henriette/The Princess, Bridesmaids)
Nureyev
Raymonda—Act III (2nd Solo, Pas de trois)
Page
Guide to Strange Places (Principal)
Peck
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (originated Principal)
In the Countenance of Kings (originated Quantus)
Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes (Principal Couple)
Pita
Björk Ballet (originated)
Salome (Salome)
Possokhov
Classical Symphony (Principal)
Diving into the Lilacs
Firebird (Princess)
Francesca da Rimini
Fusion (Principal)
Magrittomania (Principal)
The Rite of Spring (Principal)
Swimmer (Lolita)
Ratmansky
Le Carnaval des Animaux (Hen)
From Foreign Lands (Italian, Polish, Hungarian)
Seven Sonatas
Symphony #9 and Chamber Symphony in Shostakovich Trilogy
The Seasons (Frost, Hail)
Robbins
The Concert
Dances at a Gathering (Blue)
Glass Pieces (Soloist)
In the Night (1st Pas de deux)
Opus 19/The Dreamer (Principal Couple)
West Side Story Suite (Maria)
Rhoden
The Promised Land (originated Principal)
Rowe
For Pixie
Scarlett
Die Toteninsel (originated)
Fearful Symmetries (originated)
Frankenstein (Elizabeth Lavenza)
Hummingbird (Principal)
Taylor
Company B
Thatcher
Drum Roll, Please! (originated Principal)
Ghost in the Machine
In the Passerine’s Clutch
Manifesto (originated)
Tomasson
7 for Eight (Principal)
Criss-Cross (Principal)
Don Quixote (Kitri, Mercedes, Kitri’s Friends, Gitanos)
The Fifth Season (Principal)
Giselle (Myrtha, Solo Wilis, Peasant Pas de cinq)
Haffner Symphony (Soloist)
Meistens Mozart
Nutcracker (Sugar Plum Fairy, Grand Pas de deux, Queen of the Snow, Maid, Ballerina Doll, Snowflakes, Spanish, Mirlitons, Flowers)
Prism
Romeo & Juliet (Juliet, Acrobats, Harlots)
The Sleeping Beauty (Fairy of Serenity, White Cat, Little Lilacs, Nymphs, Pas de six/Diamond Fairy, The Enchanted Princess/Bluebird Pas de deux)
Swan Lake (Act I Pas de trois, Aristocrats, Cygnets, Swan Maidens, Neapolitan, Russian Princess)
Trio (2nd movement Principal)
Wheeldon
Bound To (originated)
Carousel (A Dance)
Cinderella (Cinderella, Stepsister Clementine, Spirit of Spring/Lightness, Spanish Princess)
Continuum
Finale Finale (originated Principal)
Ghosts (Soloist)
Number Nine
Quarternary
Rush (Principal)
Within the Golden Hour (Principal)
Zanella
Underskin
- BALANCHINE
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia)
Agon (1st Pas de trois)
Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (1st movement Soloist, 3rd movement Principal)
Coppélia (Swanilda, Swanilda’s Friends, Jesterettes)
Diamonds
Divertimento No. 15 (3rd Solo)
Emeralds (Pas de trois)
The Four Temperaments (1st Theme and Melancholic Demi-soloist)
Rubies
Scotch Symphony (Scotch Girl, Principal)
Serenade (Angel)
Stars and Stripes (Finale)
Stravinsky Violin Concerto
Symphony in C (1st movement Principal, 2nd movement Demi-soloist)
Symphony in Three Movements (1st movement)
Theme and Variations (Demi-soloist)
Who Cares?
Bournonville
La Sylphide (The Sylph)
Bintley
The Dance House
Bubeníček
Fragile Vessels (1st, 2nd, & 3rd movement Principal)
Caniparoli
Ibsen’s House (Rebecca West, Hedda Gabler)
Lambarena (Principal)
Cranko
Onegin (Olga)
Elo
Double Evil
Fokine
Petrouchka (Ballerina)
Forsythe
Artifact Suite
Blake Works I
Pas/Parts 2016 (originated)
The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude
Jenkins
Thread (originated)
Kobborg
Les Lutins (Principal)
Kudelka
The Ruins Proclaim The Building Was Beautiful
Liang
The Infinite Ocean (Principal)
Symphonic Dances
Lifar
Suite en Blanc (Pas de cinq, Sieste)
Lopez Ochoa
Guernica (originated)
Makarova after Petipa
La Bayadère, Act II (Solo Shade in “The Kingdom of the Shades”)
van Manen
Variations for Two Couples
Marston
Mrs. Robinson (originated Mrs. Robinson)
Snowblind (Mattie Silver)
McGregor
Borderlands
McIntyre
The Big Hunger (Principal)
de Mille
Rodeo
Millepied
Appassionata
Morris
Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes
Maelstrom
Sandpaper Ballet
Neumeier
The Little Mermaid (Henriette/The Princess, Bridesmaids)
Nureyev
Raymonda—Act III (2nd Solo, Pas de trois)
Page
Guide to Strange Places (Principal)
Peck
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (originated Principal)
In the Countenance of Kings (originated Quantus)
Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes (Principal Couple)
Pita
Björk Ballet (originated)
Salome (Salome)
Possokhov
Classical Symphony (Principal)
Diving into the Lilacs
Firebird (Princess)
Francesca da Rimini
Fusion (Principal)
Magrittomania (Principal)
The Rite of Spring (Principal)
Swimmer (Lolita)
Ratmansky
Le Carnaval des Animaux (Hen)
From Foreign Lands (Italian, Polish, Hungarian)
Seven Sonatas
Symphony #9 and Chamber Symphony in Shostakovich Trilogy
The Seasons (Frost, Hail)
Robbins
The Concert
Dances at a Gathering (Blue)
Glass Pieces (Soloist)
In the Night (1st Pas de deux)
Opus 19/The Dreamer (Principal Couple)
West Side Story Suite (Maria)
Rhoden
The Promised Land (originated Principal)
Rowe
For Pixie
Scarlett
Die Toteninsel (originated)
Fearful Symmetries (originated)
Frankenstein (Elizabeth Lavenza)
Hummingbird (Principal)
Taylor
Company B
Thatcher
Drum Roll, Please! (originated Principal)
Ghost in the Machine
In the Passerine’s Clutch
Manifesto (originated)
Tomasson
7 for Eight (Principal)
Criss-Cross (Principal)
Don Quixote (Kitri, Mercedes, Kitri’s Friends, Gitanos)
The Fifth Season (Principal)
Giselle (Myrtha, Solo Wilis, Peasant Pas de cinq)
Haffner Symphony (Soloist)
Meistens Mozart
Nutcracker (Sugar Plum Fairy, Grand Pas de deux, Queen of the Snow, Maid, Ballerina Doll, Snowflakes, Spanish, Mirlitons, Flowers)
Prism
Romeo & Juliet (Juliet, Acrobats, Harlots)
The Sleeping Beauty (Fairy of Serenity, White Cat, Little Lilacs, Nymphs, Pas de six/Diamond Fairy, The Enchanted Princess/Bluebird Pas de deux)
Swan Lake (Act I Pas de trois, Aristocrats, Cygnets, Swan Maidens, Neapolitan, Russian Princess)
Trio (2nd movement Principal)
Wheeldon
Bound To (originated)
Carousel (A Dance)
Cinderella (Cinderella, Stepsister Clementine, Spirit of Spring/Lightness, Spanish Princess)
Continuum
Finale Finale (originated Principal)
Ghosts (Soloist)
Number Nine
Quarternary
Rush (Principal)
Within the Golden Hour (Principal)
Zanella
Underskin
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