Lissette Salgado Lucas: Assistant Director and Ballet Instructor

Lissette Salgado, of Cuban descent, was raised in Miami, Florida where she started dancing at the age of six. At age 12, she joined the Miami Dance Theater under the direction of Judith Newman and Marianna Alvarez. Their training and dedication to dance inspired Lissette to pursue a career as a professional ballerina. In 1985, Ms Salgado was a finalist in the Prix de Lausanne Competition were she received the recognition which lead to her joining the Joffrey Ballet. In 1986, she joined the Joffrey II dancers where she danced for two seasons. During this time Ms Salgado had the privilege of working with Eduardo Villella and Allegra Kent in Concerto Borocco to open the Miami City Ballet.

In 1988, Ms Salgado joined the Joffrey Ballet and danced with the company for seven years. Some of her roles included Balanchine’s Tarantella, Ashton’s Les Fatinuen Gypsy and Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, Kylian’s Return to Strange Land, Sugar Plum Fairy & Snow Queen in The Nutcracker and Eduardo Stierle’s Lacrymosa.

Ms Salgado joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 1995 and danced lead roles in Bengt Jorgen’s Swedish Song, Antony Tudor’s Leaves are Fading, Louisa in John Neumeier’s Nutcracker, Toer van Schayk’s 7th Symphony, Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Ballo della Regina, Tchaikovsky’s Pas de Deux, Serenade, Swan Lake as Odette/Odile, Romeo and Juliet, Rudi van Danzig, David Nixon’s Beauty and the Beast, Butterfly, Mark Godden’s Dracula, Les Sylphides, Paquita, Don Quixotes Pas de Deux and Brian McDonald’s Pas D’Action.

Ms Salgado also performs with the Daring Project based in New York under the direction of Margo Sappington and Valentina Kozlova. She also performed as a guest principal in the role of Juliet for Teatro de Maggio Dance Company in Florence, Italy.

Ms. Salgado currently teaches and is the Assistant Director at Artistic Dance Center. She has coached dancers for national competitions and has helped stage classical and contemporary ballets for the school and company. She is also a consultant at Dillard High school for the Performing Arts and on the board of directors for Josee Garant Dance.