Brandon Ragland

26 Jan Brandon Ragland

Brandon Ragland danced with the Louisville Ballet as a leading artist and served as the Pre-Professional Program Manager for the Louisville Ballet School and Resident Choreographer for the Louisville Ballet Youth Ensemble (LBYE). He has taught for Alabama Ballet, Alabama Ballet School, Alabama School of Fine Arts, Next Generation Ballet, Samford University, AROVA Contemporary Ballet, and Ballet Arkansas. Most recently, Brandon is honored and thrilled to take on the role of Artistic Director of Dayton Ballet.

Brandon is the recipient of The Lift A Life Foundation Emerging Leader in the Arts Award presented by The Fund for the Arts; a Hadley Creative recipient; and was awarded Louisville Magazine’s Best Artist Award.

Brandon has created works for Louisville Ballet, Alabama Ballet, Ballet Arkansas, AROVA Contemporary Ballet, Next Generation Ballet, Sedona Chamber Ballet, and The Perla Ballet. His choreography has been presented at several RDA/Southeast Festivals. Brandon has also created two one-act ballets, Cinderella’s Ball and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for the Louisville Ballet School.

Brandon has collaborated with community programs such as Root and Wings project, IDEAS xLab, and The Kentucky Center’s Artsreach program. He performed with the Black Iris Project at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. as part of their Dance Across America Program.

Brandon received his early training in Birmingham, AL and graduated from Butler University with a B.S. in Dance-Arts Administration. He then joined Alabama Ballet where he performed numerous classical and neoclassical works by choreographers such as Roger Van Fleteren, George Balanchine, Christopher Bruce, and Septime Webre. Brandon spent 13 years as a leading artist with the Louisville Ballet where he performed featured roles in classical, neoclassical, and contemporary works by choreographers such as Alun Jones,  George Balanchine, Adam Hougland, Val Caniparoli, Ma Cong, Lucas Jervies, Stanton Welch, Ronald Hynd, and Tim Harbour.

Headshot photo credit: Kateryna Sellers