Jessica Collado

Jessica Collado was born in Coral Springs, Florida and was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She trained with the Gwinnett Ballet Theater under the direction of Lisa Sheppard Robson. During her summers, Ms. Collado attended programs at South Carolina University and Boston Ballet. Between 2001-2003, Ms. Collado attended Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy Summer Intensives as well as a year with Houston Ballet II on full scholarship. Upon her graduation from the academy in the spring of 2004, she received the Michael Wasmund Memorial Award. Ms. Collado joined Houston Ballet as an apprentice in July 2004, was promoted to a corps de ballet member in July 2005, to demi soloist in March 2009, to soloist in July 2011, and to first soloist July 2013.  She was promoted to principal in March 2017.

Some of Ms. Collado's featured roles in rep pieces include Alexander Eckman's Cacti (2010); Aszure Barton's Angular Momentum* (2012); John Neumeier's A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2014); William Forsythe's Artifact Suite (2016), In the middle, somewhat elevated (2014) and Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude (2009); Cinderella in Stanton Welch's Cinderella (2008 & 2017). Clear (2018), Bathilde in Giselle* (2016), Suzuki in Madame Butterfly (2007, 2012, 2016), Maninyas (2005, 2014), Madame du Barry in Marie* (2009, 2013, 2019), Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet* (2015), Artemis in Sylvia* (2019), The Rite of Spring* (2013), Red Earth (2007); Jiří Kylián's Dream Time (2019), Petit Mort (2008, 2014), Sechs Tanze (2014), Stepping Stones (2017), Svadebka (2015), Wings of Wax (2016); Wayne McGregor's Dyad 1929 (2009); Tim Harbor's Filigree and Shadow (2016); Christopher Bruce's Ghost Dances (2015), Intimate Pages (2013), Hush (2006), Grinning in your Face (2011); Hans Van Manen's Grosse Fugue (2017), Trey McIntyre's In Dreams (2018); Nacho Duato's Jardi Tancat (2009, 2015); Sir Kenneth MacMillian's Manon (2009, 2015) and Mayerling (2017); Justin Peck's Year of the Rabbit (2017) and Reflections* (2019); Garrett Smith's Reveal* (2015); Jerome Robbins' The Concert (2013,2019), The Cage (2019), Fancy Free (2010, 2019) and In the Night (2011); George Balanchine's The Four Temperaments (2014) and Jewels (2010); Hanna in Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow (2019); Katherine in John Cranko'sThe Taming of the Shrew (2015).

In 2009, Ms. Collado was named "25 to Watch" by Dance Magazine. And she was awarded "Top 10 Standout Performances in 2011" by Pointe Magazine for her performance in Christopher Bruce's Grinning In Your Face.

Ms. Collado has also had the privilege of performing with Houston based company iMEE and San Francisco based company Post:Ballet. 

In the spring of 2020, she gave birth to her son Henry (with husband Dan Plate), her greatest and most fulfilling performance to date.

 * Roles created on