José Pablo Castro Cuevas

Biography

José Pablo Castro Cuevas was born in Queretaro, Mexico, and started dancing at the age of six. He participated for the first time in the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) Mexico in 2013 and received scholarships for the Escuela Superior de Musica y Danza de Monterrey and for PROVER in Córdoba, Veracruz; Córdoba, where he continued his training under the direction of Martha Sahagun and Adria Velazquez.

In 2015, he competed in the National Ballet Competition in Mexico City where he was mentioned as an honorific dancer. He attended YAGP Mexico once again in 2015 in which he received a scholarship for the Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, in Chicago. Castro moved to Chicago at the age of 14 to join the Joffrey Academy’s Pre-Professional Program Level VI, followed by the Conservatory Program the year after, both directed by Karin Ellis-Wentz. Shortly after, he was offered a promotion to the Studio Company. During his time at the Joffrey Academy, he had the chance to perform with the main company several times, including Christopher Wheeldon’s world premiere of The Nutcracker in 2016. He performed as one of the lead dancers in Gerald Arpino’s Viva Vivaldi and as Franz in the ballet Coppélia, both during his time as a member of Joffrey’s Studio Company. 

Since joining the company at age 17, Jose Pablo’s favorite featured roles include Peter in Wheeldon’s The Nutcracker and most recently Vronsky in Yuri Possokhov’s Anna Karenina.