Valentina Raphael, Apprentice I

San Diego, CA

Valentina Raphael is from San Diego, Mexico, and Brazil. Valentina began dancing at age three in Mexico and decided at eleven that she wanted to dance professionally, which led her to move to San Diego to train in the Golden State Ballet pre-professional program.

Throughout her training, Valentina competed across California and placed at multiple Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) competitions. She won first place at the Universal Ballet Competition and at the Icon Dance Awards in both classical and ballet categories. She was also offered scholarships to Ballet West Academy and Miami City Ballet School

From 2023 to 2025, Valentina trained with the Joffrey Ballet Chicago as a trainee. There she performed in Under the Trees (Nicolas Blanc), Raymonda, Napoli, Swan Lake, and Reflections (Gerald Arpino), and understudied in the company's The Nutcracker.

After graduating from the Joffrey program in 2025, Valentina joined the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre Ballet in the Czech Republic as a member of the corps de ballet. Her repertoire there included Heatscape (Justin Peck), Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker, as well as Petite Mort (Jiří Kylián) and Ballet 102 (Eric Gauthier).