Clara
Ruf
Maldonado
Clara Ruf Maldonado (she/her) is from New York, New York. She studied on scholarship at the School of American Ballet, where she was a 2015 Mae L. Wien Award recipient, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. She attended summer courses at Ballet Academy East, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Chautauqua Institution, Houston Ballet Academy, Miami City Ballet School, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Clara was an apprentice with New York City Ballet before joining Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 2018. She was promoted to corps de ballet later that year, became a soloist in 2023, and principal in 2025.
Featured & Leading Roles
George Balanchine
Agon
Duo Concertant
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(Butterfly)
The Nutcracker
(Sugar Plum Fairy, Columbine, Marzipan, Dewdrop)
Allegro Brillante
Peter Boal
Giselle
(Peasant pas de deux, Moyna)
Kyle Davis
A Dark and Lonely Space
Alexander Ekman
Cacti
William Forsythe
One Flat Thing, reproduced
Ronald Hynd
The Sleeping Beauty
(Fairy of Joy, Red Riding Hood)
Jiří Kylián
Petite Mort
Anabelle Lopez Ochoa
Khepri
Crystal Pite
The Seasons’ Canon
Plot Point
Penny Saunders
Wonderland
Kent Stowell
Cinderella
(Spring, Columbine)
Swan Lake
(Pas de Trois, Pas de Quatre, Neopolitan)
Carmina Burana
Price Suddarth
Signature
Twyla Tharp
Brief Fling
Sweet Fields
Waiting at the Station
Original Roles
Donald Byrd
Love and Loss
Jessica Lang
Let Me Mingle Tears With Thee
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa
Khepri
Vincent Michael Lopez
Op. 21
Robyn Mineko Williams
Before I Was
Amanda Morgan
This Space Left Intentionally Blank
Alexei Ratmansky
Wartime Elegy
Kiyon Ross
…throes of increasing wonder
Dani Rowe
The Window
(The Watcher)
Dancer Promotions! Clara Ruf Maldonado, Kuu Sakuragi, and Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan
Before the curtain-raiser performance of Alexei Ratmansky’s Wartime Elegy on opening night of LOVE & LOSS, Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal and Associate Artistic Director Kiyon Ross announced to the audience that corps de ballet dancers Clara Ruf Maldonado and Kuu Sakuragi have been promoted Soloists, and Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan has been promoted to Principal dancer.
Q&A with Corps Member Clara Ruf Maldonado
Describe your perfect day off. I’m usually pretty exhausted from the week, so I tend not to go far from home on my rest days. I would consider a perfect off day to be a quiet night in cooking to some tunes over a glass of wine with fellow dancer Ryan Cardea while we get harassed by my beagle, Bob.
Celebrating our Latinx, Chicana, & Hispanic Dancers
Celebrating our Latinx, Chicana, & Hispanic Dancers September 15 to October 15 is Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month. To celebrate, we asked PNB artists identifying as Hispanic and Latinx share the many ways their heritage informs their artistry. Keep reading to hear from dancers Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan, Amanda [...]