GRACIELA ACEDO

Graciela Acedo was born in Caracas, Venezuela where she started her dance training at the Academia Interamericana de Ballet. In 1982, she won a government scholarship to study at the Boston Ballet. In 1983, she was awarded a scholarship from Harkness Ballet to work with Eleonora Dantuono in New York. In 2005 she was honored with a grant award from the University of San Francisco to study pedagogy in Cuba. Acedo graduated from Saint Mary’s college with a Bachelor in Performing Arts.

Acedo performed the classical repertoire with the Ballet Teresa Carreno directed by Enrique Martinez. While in this company she shared the stage with prestigious ballet dancers such as Rudolf Nureyev, Fernando Bujones and Julio Boca.

In 1983, she joined Ballet Nuevo Mundo de Caracas, a contemporary ballet company where she was a principal dancer and worked with world renowned choreographers such as Judith Jamison, Ulysses Dove, John Butler, Gustavo Mallajoli, Elisa Monte, Paulo Denubila, Dennis Nahat, Choo San Goh, and Donald MacKayle among others. Throughout her career as professional Ballet Dancer, she performed at prestigious theaters around the world --Europe Asia, North and South America and the Caribbean.

Graciela performed with Oakland Ballet and has been a guest artist with the Margaret Wingrove Dance Company, Pacific Dance Theater of San Francisco, Western Ballet, and Peninsula Ballet Theater among others.

Her vast teaching experience includes Oakland Ballet, University of Nebraska, Diablo Ballet, Shawl Anderson, Pacific Dance Theater of San Francisco (Assistant director to the summer programs), Pacific Ballet, Teen Dance Company, Ballet San Jose, and Marin Ballet, San Francisco Dance Center among others. Ms. Acedo was Associate Director of Western Ballet from 1998 to 2003 and she has guest taught at America’s Ballet in FL, in Venezuela and in Costa Rica. Currently Graciela teaches at University of San Francisco, Berkeley Ballet, Ayako Ballet School, Diablo Ballet pre-professional program, San Francisco School of the Arts (SOTA) and Dance Attack. She has been a judge of important ballet competitions.