Yumelia Garcia

Born in Venezuela, Ms. Garcia received her professional training in Caracas at the Escuela de Ballet Gustavo Franklin. She joined the National Ballet of Caracas at the age of 15 under the direction of Vicente Nebrada and was promoted to soloist one year later.

Ms. Garcia began her U.S. Career with Heinz Pohl at Ohio Ballet. She then performed as a principal dancer with the Milwaukee Ballet where she had a ballet created for her: Scheherazade by Katherine Possen. Ms. Garcia then moved on to Ballet Florida where she was featured in principal roles in contemporary and classical works, most recently as Ben Strevenson’s Cleopatra.

Her remarkable versatility, technical prowess and intensity have led her to perform classical roles in full length ballets such as Kitri in Don Quixote, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Giselle and Carmen in their title roles. Ms. Garcia has also performed contemporary lead roles in pieces by George Balanchine, Alonzo Ving, Cho San Goh, David Parson, Jean-Paul Comelin, Lar Lubevich and Christopher Weeldon. She was invited to be a part of The Trey McIntyre Project at White Oak in 2006, and has performed at prestigious festivals such as Jacob’s Pillow, Vail International Festival and Wolf Trap.

Ms. Garcia is in her third season with The Joffrey Ballet and has hit the stage to critical acclaim in Ashton’s Cinderella. She continues to bring her style and presence to Chicago audiences and looks forward to the artistic opportunities and challenges at The Joffrey Ballet.