American Ballet Theatre dancer Jake Roxander has been promoted to Principal Dancer as of 1 September 2026. The announcement was made by ABT Artistic Director Susan Jaffe on stage after the performance of Don Quixote at the Metropolitan Opera House, where Roxander had danced with Skylar Brandt.
“Jake has an energy on stage that is infectious and completely his own. The moment he walks out, the audience follows his every move,” said Jaffe. “There is a power to his dancing that is impossible to look away from.
“He brings that same commitment and intensity to everything in our repertoire, from the great classical roles to the most demanding contemporary work. We are thrilled to celebrate him as a Principal Dancer.”
Born and raised in Medford, Oregon, he began training at age eight at Studio Roxander, the school his parents founded.
He rose quickly through the competition world, earning the Youth Grand Prix Award at the Youth America Grand Prix in 2016 and 2017, followed by the Grand Prix Award in 2018 and 2019. He received full scholarships to Pennsylvania Ballet’s Company Experience workshop and to ABT’s New York Summer Intensive. Roxander joined Pennsylvania Ballet II in 2019 and appeared as a featured dancer in both its second company and main company productions before joining ABT.
Roxander joined ABT Studio Company in September 2020, became an apprentice with the main Company in May 2022, and joined the corps de ballet that September. He was promoted to Soloist in March 2024 and has since built a varied and demanding portfolio of roles.
His repertoire spans the full range of ABT’s repertoire: Puck in The Dream, Lensky in Onegin, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, the Bluebird in Susan Jaffe‘s The Sleeping Beauty, Act III, Champion Roper in Rodeo, Aminta in Sylvia, Florizel in The Winter’s Tale, and Basilio in Don Quixote. He has danced leading roles in La Boutique, Études, Piano Concerto No. 1, Push Comes to Shove, Serenade after Plato’s Symposium, and Sextet, and featured roles in In the Upper Room and Mercurial Son, as well as Evans and “Becomings” in Woolf Works.
