Pedro Ruiz

Pedro Ruiz is a renowned choreographer and dancer who was born and trained in Cuba, as well as in Venezuela. In a 21-year career with Ballet Hispanico as its principal dancer, Ruiz also choreographed three critically acclaimed ballets for the company. 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 gave kudos to Club Havana saying, “An explosion of sensuous pure dance.” And Gia Kourlas of Time Out New York glowed, “Ruiz’s Cecilia furthers the notion that his pieces exhibit a timelessness.”

Ruiz is the recipient of The Bessie Award, the Choo-San Goh Award, The Cuban Artist’s Fund Award and The Joyce Foundation Award. The FBI honored Ruiz for his Public Service during 2012’s Hispanic Heritage Month. Mr. Ruiz has performed at the White House for several presidents. In 2010, Ruiz founded The Windows Project—a groundbreaking cultural exchange program celebrating the art of dance between the U.S. and Cuba. Ruiz has been the subject of two PBS documentaries: Pas de Deux (part of the “In The Life” series), and Coming Home, a PBS documentary nominated for a NY Emmy Award. Ruiz’s highly successful ballet, Club Havana was featured in Lincoln Center at the Movies: Great American Dance. And Ruiz’s celebrated poetic duet, Lasting Embrace, premiered in the US in July 2016 at the Dancers Responding to AIDS Dance Festival on Fire Island. In 2019 under the auspices of the ¡Cuba Aquí! Festival, the Ballet Contemporáneo de Camagűey from Cuba made its American debut at Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse on March 13th bringing a joyful, exuberant program of three dances by their Cuban-American artistic director Pedro Ruiz. For more information, visit www.thewindowsproject.org.

Ruiz is in the faculty of Hunter college, Alvin Ailey, Marymount college, Pace University and former Arnhold visiting Artist-in Residence and Guest Artistic Director at Hunter College from 2016 to 2022.