Biography

Lead Artist Samuel Opsal started dancing at the age of 16 in Pullman, WA. In 2014 he received a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts, graduating magna cum laude. While attending Cornish he was granted multiple awards for academic and artistic achievement. After college, Opsal worked with Iyun Harrison’s Ashani Dances in Seattle and then moved to Pittsburgh to train in Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Graduate Program. His performances include PBT’s Le Corsaire, Sleeping Beauty, and La Bayadere. As a guest artist, he has performed principal roles in Giselle, Firebird, and Swan Lake. In 2015 he also had the opportunity to choreograph a duet that was performed by PBT’s ensemble group. Opsal joined Ballet 5:8 in 2016 and was promoted to Lead Artist in 2023. His repertoire includes many solo and principal roles in Julianna Rubio Slager’s Reckless, Dry Bones, Golden Sessions, Butterfly, Brothers & Sisters, The Space in Between, Four Seasons of the Soul, All God’s Children, Meditations, Ripple Effect, and Scarlet.