santiago paniagua

Corps de Ballet • Joined Colorado Ballet in 2024

Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts

Santiago was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. His mother is Colombian and his father is Spanish. He began his dance training at 8 years old through one of Boston Ballet’s outreach programs called "Citydance." The program visited third-grade classrooms of the Boston Public schools and recruited several students to their program. Santiago was phased into Boston Ballet school’s training program and began training twice a week during after-school hours. 

With a gradual increase in time commitment through the years, Santiago became passionate about ballet at the age of 12 and decided he wanted to become a professional.

Santiago finished his training at Boston Ballet School under the direction of Margaret Tracey in 2017 and joined Philadelphia Ballet 2, where he worked under the direction of Angel Corella. Two years later he was promoted to the rank of apprentice. During his time in Philadelphia, some of his fondest experiences include dancing in George Balanchine’s Diamonds, Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Julietand Angel Corella’s Swan Lake.

Throughout Santiago’s training and start of his career, he attended several summer and professional development programs such as Jacob’s Pillow’s contemporary ballet intensive in 2019, "Ballet Masterclasses" in Prague in 2018, Houston Ballet Academy in 2016 and 2017 as well as Orlando Ballet School in 2014 and 2015.

During 2020 and 2021, Santiago was invited to join Erica Cornejo and Carlos Molina’s academy "Integrarte" in Boston. Cornejo and Molina allowed him the chance to continue his training and work during COVID as a stepping stone before returning to the career. The two ultimately became his mentors.

In September of 2021 he joined Los Angeles Ballet, where he had the pleasure of dancing the Cavalier in The Nutcracker as well as soloist roles in ballets by Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Melissa Barak.

Santiago joined Colorado Ballet as a Corps de Ballet member in August of 2024. Since then he has had the pleasure of dancing several roles in The Nutcracker, "Musicians" in Kenneth Tindall’s Casanova, and interpreting the role of Sergei Rachmaninoff in Yoshihisa Arai’s new work S. Rachmaninoff.