Joffrey Ballet Principal 

Jeraldine Mendoza was born in San Francisco, CA., and trained at City Ballet School of San Francisco since the age of five, under the artistic direction of Galina Alexandrova. At age 17, Mendoza was invited to graduate in the Russian course at the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. She later won first place at the YAGP San Francisco Regional Semi-Finals in 2011.

Within her first year with the Joffrey, Mendoza danced lead roles in Yuri Possokhov’s Don Quixote, Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker, Wayne McGregor’s INFRA, Edwaard Liang’s Age of Innocence, and Jerome Robbins’s In the Night. In 2012, she won the prestigious young artists’ scholarship from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund, under the nomination of Artistic Director Ashley Wheater, making her the first Chicago artist to win since the award’s inception. Mendoza graced the cover of Dance Magazine's first-ever international issue in May 2015.

Since joining the Joffrey, Mendoza has danced principal roles in Stanton Welch’s La Bayadére (Nikiya), Son of Chamber Symphony, and Maninyas; Jiři Kylián’s Forgotten Land; Gerald Arpino’s Sea Shadow, Light Rain, and Round of Angels; Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs; George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante and The Four Temperaments; Christopher Wheeldon’s Continuum, Swan Lake (Odette/Odile), Liturgy, Fool’s Paradise, The Nutcracker, and Commedia; Jerome Robbins’s Interplay and Glass Pieces; Krzysztof Pastor’s Romeo & Juliet (Juliet); Yuri Possokhov’s RAkU, Miraculous Mandarin, and Anna Karenina (Kitty); Anthony Tudor’s Lilac Garden; Alexander Ekman’s Tulle and Midsummer Night’s Dream; Justin Peck’s In Creases, Year of the Rabbit, and The Times Are Racing; Val Caniparoli’s Incantations; Myles Thatcher’s Passengers; John Neumeier’s Sylvia (Sylvia); Ashley Page’s Tipping Point; Sir Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella (Cinderella); Lola de Avila’s Giselle (Giselle, Myrta); Nicolas Blanc’s Beyond the Shore, Lorelei, and Under the Trees’ Voices; Andrew McNicol’s Yonder Blue; Liam Scarlett’s Vespertine; and Cathy Marston’s Jane Eyre (Blanche).