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Caitlin Valentine-Ellis
Caitlin Valentine-Ellis was born in New Jersey, where she began her training before moving to Orlando, Florida. Valentine-Ellis was offered a contract at the age of 16 by Fernando Bujones to join Orlando Ballet as a full company member.
In Orlando Ballet, Valentine-Ellis has performed numerous soloist and principal roles including Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. Cinderella in Cinderella, Lise in La Fille mal Gardee, the Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Guinevere in Camelot, and Cupid in Don Quixote, among others. She has also performed the grande pas de deuxes from Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, and La Bayadere and principal roles in George Balanchine works including Serenade, Who Cares?, Allegro Brillante and Stars and Stripes.
In 2003, Valentine-Ellis was awarded the Bronze Medal at the New York International Ballet Competition. She was a semi-finalist at the Helsinki International Ballet Competition in 2005. Later that year, Valentine-Ellis was honored as one of Dance Magazine’s “Top 25 to Watch.” In 2006, she was a finalist and the Jury Award recipient at the USA International Ballet Competition. She has performed as a guest artist with the Moscow Ballet in their touring production of Swan Lake, at the Gala for the 2005 New York International Ballet Competition and internationally in the Baltic Ballet Festival in Riga, Latvia. In 2012, she performed in the Stars of World Ballet: Wings of Dance Gala in Limassol, Cyprus.
Valentine-Ellis joined the Colorado Ballet in 2007 and has enjoyed dancing a wide variety of roles such as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Hermia and Lead Fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cupid and Flower Girl in Don Quixote, Clara and Dew Drop in The Nutcracker, Tiger Lily in Peter Pan, Dawn in Coppelia, an Odalisque in Le Corsaire and the pas de trois in Swan Lake. She had the opportunity to work with and be featured in pieces by such choreographers as Dwight Rhoden, Edwaard Liang, Amy Siewert, Brian Reeder, Jessica Lang and Twyla Tharp, among others.
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