Kristi Boone
American Ballet Theater – Soloist
Kristi was born in Rochester, but she didn’t start dancing at Draper Center until she was 13 years old! She took classes with Tim Draper and Jamey Leverett, Draper Center and Rochester City Ballet’s Artistic director. Kristi says “They really helped fast track me”!
Kristi graduated early at the age of 17, doing her Junior and Senior year all in one. She did this to go to NYC to be in ABT’s Studio Company before joining their Main Company as a member of their corps de ballet a year later. A short time later she was appointed a Soloist and continues to be till this day.
While at Draper, Kristi performed many roles with the Rochester City Ballet including the lead role in Firebird and the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Dew Drop in The Nutcracker. She also received full scholarships at the San Francisco Ballet Program, The Chautauqua Institute Ballet Program and ABT’s Summer Intensive Program.
Her roles with ABT include the lead D’Jampe in La Bayadère, Her Stepsister and Twig in Cinderella, an Odalisque and the Lead Pirate Woman in Le Corsaire, Mercedes and the Driad Queen in Don Quixote, Hermia in The Dream, Katherine in Christopher Wheeldon’s VIII, the Maiden in Alexei Ratmansky’s Firebird, Zulma and Bathilde in Giselle, the Partisan Woman in The Green Table, An Episode in His Past in Jardin aux Lilas, Bianca and a Carnival Dancer in Othello, a Gypsy in Petrouchka, the Polovtsian Princess in the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, the Siren in Prodigal Son, the Lead Spanish Dancer in Raymonda, Lady Capulet and a Harlot in Romeo and Juliet, the Fairy of Fervor and the Fairy of Valor in The Sleeping Beauty, the Lead Czardas in Swan Lake, Terepsichore in Sylvia and roles in Airs, Amazed in Burning Dreams, Baker’s Dozen, Ballo della Regina, Black Tuesday, Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra, Dark Elegies, Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes, Duets, HereAfter, In the Upper Room, The Leaves Are Fading, Marimba, Overgrown Path, Petite Mort, Rabbit and Rogue, Sinfonietta, Symphony in C, Thirteen Diversions, Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison and workwithinwork
Kristi and her husband Isaac who also was with ABT have honored us in the past with being Guest Artists for Rochester City Ballet’s Nutcracker as Sugar Plum and Cavalier. Their grace and beauty on stage is nothing short of breath taking and truly an honor to witness!
Kristi says “All of the training I received at Draper Center for Dance Education allowed me to fulfill my dreams as a professional dancer and artist. The staff helped to shape not only my technique but my own unique artistry that set me apart from the other dancers in my professional career. The hard work and dedication they demand has set me up for a long career as a soloist with American Ballet Theatre and with any future endeavors I take!”