Pedro Ruiz

Pedro Ruiz is a renowned choreographer and dancer who was born and trained in Cuba, as well as in Venezuela.

In December 2014, Ruiz was appointed associate artistic director of Ballet Endedans in Camagüey, Cuba.

In a 21-year career with Ballet Hispánico as a principal dancer, Ruiz also choreographed three critically acclaimed ballets for the company.

Currently, he is part of the staff at Alvin Ailey, Marymount College, Pace University and is resident artistic director of the Arnhold Graduate Program in Dance at Hunter.

Some of his works have been performed by: Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, Danza del Alma, Santa Clara, Cuba, Ballet Endedans, Camagüey, Cuba, The Joffrey Ballet, Luna Negra, The New Jersey Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ballet De Camaguey Cuba, Opus, Nimbus, The Jacob's Pillow Festival, Ballet Nacional de Cuba School, The Harvard Ballet, The Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. MMC BFA, Programa and the international gala "Notte di Stelle", in Italy.

Clive Barnes of The New York Post said of Guajira: "An especially fine work of form and structure". Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times praised Club Havana saying: "An explosion of pure and sensual dance". And Gia Kourlas of Time Out New York glowed: "Ruiz's Cecilia fosters the notion that his pieces exhibit a timelessness".

Mr. Ruiz has now undertaken his own choreography for other dance companies in the U.S. and internationally. In November 2022, Pedro Ruiz premiered a new Ballet "La Estancia", which was commissioned for the Centennial Gala of the New Jersey Philharmonic Orchestra. Ruiz's ballet was performed by The New Jersey Ballet along with two greats: cellist YoYo Ma and Wynton Marsalis performing at NJ PAC.

Ruiz has received the Bessie Award, the Choo-San Goh Award, the Cuban Artists Fund Award and the Joyce Foundation Award. The FBI honored Ruiz for his Public Service during Hispanic Heritage Month 2012.

Mr. Ruiz has performed at the White House for several presidents. In 2010, Ruiz founded The Windows Project, an innovative cultural exchange program that celebrates the art of dance between the United States and Cuba.

Ruiz has been the subject of two PBS documentaries: Pas de Deux (part of the series "In The Life") and Coming Home, a PBS documentary nominated for a New York Emmy Award.

Ruiz's successful ballet, Club Havana, was presented at Lincoln Center in Cinema: Great American Dance. Ruiz's celebrated poetic duet, Lasting Embrace, made its U.S. debut in July 2016 at the Dancers Responding to AIDS Dance Festival on Fire Island.

In 2019 under the auspices of ¡Cuba Aquí! Festival, the Ballet Contemporáneo de Camagűey of Cuba made its debut in the United States at Hunter College's Kaye Playhouse with a cheerful and exuberant program of three dances by its Cuban-American artistic director Pedro Ruiz.

Ruiz is on the dance faculty of Hunter College, Marymount College, The Ailey School, Pace University and Ballet Hispánico. He teaches company classes for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and is a resident artist of the Arnhold postgraduate dance education program at Hunter. He has also taught master classes and performed throughout the United States, Europe and Central and South America.