- Principal Character Dancer
Ricardo Bustamante
Biography
Born in Medellin, Colombia, Ricardo Bustamante began his dance training at the age of eight, at the Academia de Ballet de Medellin. At the invitation of Michael Smuin during Lew Christensen’s leadership of San Francisco Ballet, he joined the company in 1980. He joined American Ballet Theatre in 1985, at the invitation of Mikhail Baryshnikov. Sir Kenneth McMillan, Antony Tudor, Agnes DeMille, Twyla Tharp, Martha Graham, Jerome Robbins, Carole Armitage, and Natalia Makarova are just a few of the high-profile choreographers he has worked with directly through his dance repertoire. In addition, he was a frequent international guest artist, toured twice with “Rudolf Nureyev and Friends,” and starred in two productions that aired on PBS’ Dance in America series.
In 1994, he joined the SF Ballet School faculty where he choreographed three works for the School. From 1998 to 1999, Bustamante successfully served as artistic director of Argentina’s famed Ballet Teatro Colón. From 2000–03, Bustamante directed and choreographed for the Ballet de Santiago in Chile, creating his own version of The Nutcracker and Le Corsaire. In February 2019, along with Rachel Beaujean of Het National Ballet, Bustamante set his own production of Giselle in Amsterdam at Het National Ballet for Holland’s Dutch National Ballet in 2009.
In 2004, Bustamante returned to the San Francisco Ballet as a rehearsal director and principal character dancer, worked as assistant to the artistic director (Helgi Tomasson), from 2009 to 2021, and currently serves as a rehearsal director.
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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