James Cunningham

James Cunningham grew up in Little Hocking, Ohio. His early dance education began at age 10 at the Mid Ohio Valley Ballet Academy. In 2010, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati. While earning his BFA in dance on full scholarship, he was able to begin his career as a professional dancer with Cincinnati Ballet. His career in Cincinnati spanned 11 seasons with a promotion to Soloist in 2016. He joined Grand Rapids Ballet in 2019. Some highlights have been dancing the roles of Mercutio and Romeo from Romeo and Juliet, Escamillo from Carmen, Country Boy from Fancy Free, Principal Pas de Deux from Rubies, Stomper from In The Upper Room, Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kashchei from Firebird, Red Man from Elemental Brubeck. Waltz Boy from Serenade, Liza from Who Cares? and the Prince from Cinderella and Seeping Beauty.

James has had the pleasure perform work by many choreographers; Adam Hougland, Penny Saunders, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Jennifer Archibald, Justin Peck, Jiri Kylian, Ma Cong, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Ohad Naharin, Septime Webre, Amy Seiwart, Trey McIntyre, Lar Lubovitch, Danielle Rowe, Val Caniparoli, James Kudelka, Nicolo Fonte, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, Yuri Possokhov, Alejandro Cerrudo, Ben Stevenson, Christopher Stowell, Victoria Morgan, Devon Carney, Edward Liang, and James Sofranko.