Jon Upleger

Jon Upleger began his formal training under the direction of Petrus Bosman and David Keener at the Virginia School of the Arts. Upon graduation, he joined Nashville Ballet in 2000.

During his time at Nashville Ballet, Upleger has performed roles from such varied repertoire as Romeo inRomeo & Juliet, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Albrecht in Giselle, Prince Desire in Sleeping Beauty, Prince Charming in Cinderella, the Sugar Plum Cavalier in Nashville’s Nutcracker and Dracula in Paul Vasterling’s Dracula.

Other leading roles include Stanley Kowalski in Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s American premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire, Christopher Wheeldon’s Ghosts, Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort and Sechs Tanze, Twyla Tharp’s Sinatra Suite, Salvatore Aiello’s Satto, the Protagonist in Vasterling’s Firebird, Oberon in AMidsummer Night’s Dream, and Christopher Stuart’s Under the Lights and 7 Deadly Sins. He has also had the honor of working with Christopher Bruce, Jennifer Archibald, Gina Patterson and Val Caniparoli.

After performing Upleger became a rehearsal director with Nashville ballet.

While teaching at the School of Nashville Ballet Upleger helped create the Young Men’s Scholarship Program, which provides tuition-free ballet training for males age 6-18, and served as a Principal Instructor.

In 2021 he opened the Grand Rapids School of Dance. He is happy to be back in his home state bringing the joy of dance to the Grand Rapids Community with his wife, Alexandra, and sons, Hudson and Blake.