Ricardo Graziano, originally from Brazil, finished his ballet training in Germany at the Akademie des Tanzes Mannheim before moving to the USA to start his professional dance career with Tulsa Ballet in Oklahoma at the age of 18. In 2010, Graziano joined the Sarasota Ballet of Florida, where he acts to this day as a Principal Dancer and Resident Choreographer. Throughout his dance career, he was fortunate enough to perform ballets by the great masters such as Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Jiri Kylian, Nacho Duato, Hans van Manen, William Forsythe, and Paul Taylor, among others, all of which had a great influence in his choreographic style. Ricardo has created nine ballets for the Sarasota Ballet, three divertissements for the Company’s Galas, and two works for the Sarasota Ballet School and Conservatory. The Sarasota Ballet has performed Graziano’s ballets at the Joyce Theatre, in New York City, at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts, and the Criterion Theatre in Bar Harbor, Maine. His Amorosa Pas de Deux has also been performed in California, Mexico, and Japan.