Renan Cerdeiro was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At a young age he began practicing in various dance styles at the Escola de dança Alice Arja in Rio de Janeiro, where he did most of his training. In 2008, Renan was named a finalist at the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland, and that same year was awarded a scholarship to train at the Miami City Ballet School. Within two years, he was invited by the company’s founding artistic director, Edward Villella, to join the Miami City Ballet as a company apprentice. In 2013, he was promoted to principal dancer by current artistic director Lourdes Lopez. Renan has performed numerous principal roles in works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, Liam Scarlett, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Nacho Duato, Pam Tanowitz, Brian Brooks, Peter Martins, Sir Kenneth Macmillan, Richard Alston, and original works by Justin Peck. Renan has performed leading roles in classics such as Petipa’s Coppélia, Giselle, and Don Quixote, John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, and Alexei Ratmansky’s Swan Lake. Renan has danced at New York City Center and at the Koch Theater in New York, participated in multiple Works & Process performances at the Guggenheim, was part of the Vail Dance Festival and Nantucket Dance Festival, performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and at the Music Center and Cal Performances in California, Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts, Harris Theater in Chicago, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, as well at the Bolshoi Theater in Russia as part of the Benois de la Danse Gala. Renan was named one of the world’s “Top 25 Artists to Watch in 2011” by Dance Magazine. Most recently, Renan has been guesting as a principal dancer and working with Twyla Tharp Dance.