Ronnie Underwood

Co-Director Tulsa Dance Company

Originally from California, Ronnie Underwood grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and received his training from Tulsa School of Ballet, Ballet Hispanico NYC, and American Ballet Theatre NYC. He began his professional career as an apprentice with Tulsa Ballet. He then joined Texas Ballet Theater at the age of 19 and danced principal roles under the direction of Ben Stevenson, OBE. Ronnie went on to dance as a principal with Oregon Ballet Theatre under the direction of Christopher Stowell and with Ballet West in Salt Lake City.  He was as a featured dancer in the CW hit reality series “Breaking Pointe”.
 

Returning to Oklahoma, Ronnie joined Oklahoma City Ballet as a principal dancer and concurrently held the position of Ballet Master. 
During his 18 years as a principal dancer Ronnie has performed the leading male roles in much of classical and neo-classical ballet’s standard repertoire; Giselle, Coppelia, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Who Cares, Divertimento 15, and Apollo. His contemporary repertoire includes works by Trey McIntyre, Nicolo Fonte, James Kudelka, Helen Pickett, Robert Mills, Val Caniparoli and Jiri Kylian among others. He has enjoyed numerous opportunities as a guest artist, both state side and overseas, most notably with the critically acclaimed South African Ballet Theatre. Ronnie has also been privileged to work with Osage Ballet as Artistic Director.
 

Ronnie enjoys working as an instructor at Tulsa Dance Company, training the next generation of dancers, artists and athletes.  Ronnie’s teaching style is very motivational and encourages dancers to stretch themselves to realize their full potential as an individual and an artist.