Dancer

John-Paul Simoens began his dance training at age seven under Diane Lauridsen in Los Angeles, California. In 2012, he was a semi-finalist at the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland,
where he received a scholarship to attend the San Francisco Ballet School under school director Patrick Armand. In 2014, he was named an apprentice with the company.

John-Paul spent nine years with the San Francisco Ballet, where he had the privilege of performing principal roles in several ballets, including Helgi Tomasson's Don Quixote, Concerto
Grosso, and Fifth Season; Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free and The Cage; Val Caniparoli's Ibsen's House; Benjamin Millepied's The Chairman Dances; Arthur Pita's Björk Ballet; Yuka Oishi's
Bolero; Liam Scarlett's Fearful Symmetries; Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa's Broken Wings, among others.

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In 2023, John-Paul joined Oregon Ballet Theatre as a soloist under the direction of Dani Rowe.

Since joining the company, he has performed several principal roles, including Siegfried in Christopher Stowell’s Swan Lake, the Prince in Christopher Stowell's Sleeping Beauty, and
Albrecht in Tiit Helimets’ Giselle.

John-Paul was promoted to Principal dancer in February of 2025.