GLADISA GUADALUPE

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gladisa Guadalupe started her training at the early age of 13 with Ballet de San Juan, becoming one of the company's youngest members. Here, Ms. Guadalupe studied under Lois & Carlos Serrano, Ana Garcia, Maria Carrera, Vanessa Ortiz, Ana Maria Castañon, Ramon Molina, Victor Huertas, Jose Pares, and Miguel Campaneria.

A scholarship alumna of the School of American Ballet, Ms. Guadalupe studied under the celebrated George Balanchine, father of American ballet and of the modern ballet movement. She also studied under the School of American Ballet's famed faculty members Stanley Williams, Andrei Kramarevsky, Alexandra Danilova, Irena Kosmovska, Antonia Tumkovsky, Kay Mazzo, Muriel Stuart, Elise Reiman, Suki Shorer, Robert Denvers, Richard Rapp, Madame Dubrovska, Madame Darvash, and William Bergman.

After her studies, Ms. Guadalupe forwarded to a career in professional ballet. She has performed under legendary choreographers George Balanchine, Dennis Nahat, Ian Horvath, Margot Sappington, Ana Garcia, John Butler, Choo San Goh, and Louis Falco. Her career as a Principal Dancer has included work with Ballet de San Juan (Puerto Rico), Ballet Nuevo Mundo de Caracas (Caracas, Venezuela), the Cleveland-San Jose Ballet (San Jose, California and Cleveland, Ohio) and the Cleveland Ballet (Cleveland, Ohio). She has toured North and South America, Asia, and Europe.

The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, Les Sylphides, Carmina Burana, Giselle, Don Quixote, Rodeo, Celebrations and Ode, Le Corsaire, Theme and Variations, Slavonic and Hungarian, Four Temperaments, Quicksilver, Cannonade, Escargot, Gaite Parisienne, Momentum, The Gift, US, Birds of Paradise, and Serenade are all included in her performance repertoire.

After retiring from the stage, Ms. Guadalupe served as Director and Principal Teacher at the School of Cleveland Ballet. There she was credited for maintaining the school's high quality of training and artistic standards. Concurrently, she acted as an Artistic and Company Teacher for the Cleveland-San Jose Ballet company. She has also been an Adjunct Instructor for the Cecchetti Council of America, American Ballet Theater, Ballet de San Juan, Ballet San Jose, Ohio Ballet, Rochester School of Ballet and the University of Akron.

Ms. Guadalupe has been recognized as a Distinguished Teacher in the Arts and for Promotion of Excellence in the Arts by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. In 2021, she received the YWCA's Women of Achievement award for her outstanding work as an esteemed leader in the Northeast Ohio community. Ms. Guadalupe received the 2022 Ohio Arts Council Governor's Award for the Arts in Ohio for her distinction in Arts Administration. Most recently, she was recognized as a 2023 Crain’s Women of Note.

Ms. Guadalupe has also served as a consultant for the Cleveland Orchestra, Playhouse Square Center, American Ballet Theatre, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet San Jose, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the University of Akron, Jack and Jill of America, Danskin, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and many other community organizations.

Ms. Guadalupe has demonstrated success operating dance rehearsals and obtaining choreography objectives, excellent classical dance movement coaching skills and student relationship experience. With a dynamic and practical approach to instruction, she has assisted students in effective training and application of their objectives. Her success is attributed to her extensive arts experience and supplemented by her studies at Cleveland State University where she graduated with a degree in Psychology.

In addition to her above-mentioned accomplishments, in July of 2015, Ms. Guadalupe was invited by the artistic director and chairman of faculty at School of American Ballet, official school of New York City Ballet, to serve on the Alumni Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion.

Ms. Guadalupe founded Cleveland School of Dance (DBA School of Cleveland Ballet) in 2000 and since has been improving the Cleveland area and beyond through her leadership and knowledge. Recognized as the best training school for ballet and its related arts, the school is the official training academy for Cleveland Ballet.

Together with her husband, Dr. Michael Krasnyansky, Ms. Guadalupe established today's resident ballet company of Cleveland, Cleveland Ballet, in 2014. Under her watchful eye, guidance, and artistic excellence, the resident ballet company of Playhouse Square, Cleveland Ballet, has been recognized as the fastest growing ballet company. Under her artistic vision and direction, and with over 44 years of experience, both School of Cleveland Ballet and Cleveland Ballet have exponentially grown, attracting local and global talent to be a part of and share the wonderful art of ballet with Cleveland.