Joan Boada

Joan Boada (born He was sent to ballet classes at age nine by his mother, in order to keep him away from the streets. He trained at Cuban National Ballet School under Alicia Alonso.

Career Boada was chosen to join the Cuban National Ballet by Alonso, who promoted him to principal dancer when he was 16. He was soon cast as Franz in her production of Coppélia, and had also dance with Alonso. Following his defection, he joined Jeune Ballet de France, a touring company. He also performed with Roland Petit's Ballet National de Marseille, the Royal Ballet of Flanders and the Australian Ballet, and as a guest artist. However, by the end of the month, the decision to dismiss Boada was reversed. The following year, he and Lorena Feijóo won the Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Ensemble Performance, for their performances in Don Quixote.

His repertory in San Francisco include lead roles in full-length classics and works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Mark Morris, Helgi Tómasson, Christopher Wheeldon and Yuri Possokhov. Tómasson's 7 for Eight. and On a Theme of Paganini, Possokhov's Magrittomania, Fusion, and Diving into the Lilacs.

In 2016, the 40-year-old Boada retired from the San Francisco Ballet, and stated he wanted to focus on being a ballet master and teacher. In April, a one-night-only program was held to celebrate him, Pascal Molat and Gennadi Nedvigin, two other retiring principal dancers. In 2017, Boada was one of the Sustained Achievement Honorees at the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards.

After Boada retired from performing, he worked as a guest teacher at various schools, as well as répétiteur at the San Francisco Ballet and Boston Ballet. In 2019, he joined the Spanish National Dance Company as ballet master and choreographic assistant. After a two year stint, he returned to the United States in 2021 to serve as the artistic director of the Reston, Virginia-based Conservatory Ballet. In September that year, he was appointed the artistic director of the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington D.C., amid leadership changes and an embezzlement scandal. In June 2022, Boada became the associate director of Boston Ballet II, Boston Ballet's second company.