Cynthia Sofranko

Cynthia is originally from southern California and started her training with David Wilcox at Long Beach Ballet. She received additional training with the Houston Ballet Academy and the School of the Pennsylvania Ballet. Her 20-year career in ballet began with the New York Theatre Ballet under the direction of Diana Byer. While there, she had the privilege to work extensively with rehearsal director Sallie Wilson, well known for her dramatic roles at the American Ballet Theater, especially those of Antony Tudor.  In 2004, Ms. Wilson invited Cynthia to be a guest artist with Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Italy, to dance the role of Caroline in Antony Tudor’s Jardin Aux Lilas.

She continued dancing with the Oakland Ballet and Diablo Ballet, and performed nine seasons with Ballet San Jose, under the direction of Dennis Nahat and later Jose Manuel Carreno. Throughout her career, she has danced classical and contemporary works by Dennis Nahat, George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Ben Stevenson, Donald McKayle, Jose Limon, Eugene Loring, Alicia Alonso, Leonide Massine, Bronislava Nijinska, Roland Petit, Val Caniparoli, Robert Garland, Donald Mahler, Julia Adam, Amy Seiwert, Yuri Zukhov, Nicolo Fonte, Dwight Rhoden, Trey McIntyre, and Ohad Naharin. Some of her favorite experiences on stage have been in Tudor’s Jardin Aux Lilas, the Spanish Princess in Nahat’s Swan Lake, the Bomb Squad in Tharp’s In the Upper Room, the solo woman in Taylor’s Piazzolla Caldera, and the Girl with the Red Purse in Robbins’ Fancy Free.