Samantha Riester is from Greenwood, Indiana, and trained with Indianapolis Ballet before earning a scholarship to The School of American Ballet. She attended summer programs at SAB and Miami City Ballet, later joining Cincinnati Ballet’s Second Company in 2015 and the main company in 2017. Samantha became a member of Charlotte Ballet in 2023.
Her featured repertoire includes roles in Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort and Sechs Tänze, Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16 and Kamuyot, Alejandro Cerrudo’s Cloudless and Little mortal jump, Johan Inger’s Walking Mad, Val Caniparoli’s Ibsen’s House, Septime Webre’s ALICE (in Wonderland), Victoria Morgan’s Cinderella, Andrea Schermoly’s Swivet and Carmen, as well as principal roles in Nutcracker and Swan Lake. She has performed other works by George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Alejandro Cerrudo, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Helen Pickett, Mthuthuzeli November, Ma Cong, Nicolo Fonte, Stephanie Martinez, Adam Hougland, Jennifer Archibald, Devon Carney, Kirk Peterson, Ib Andersen, Garett Smith, Myles Thatcher, David Morse and Taylor Carrasco and has appeared as a principal guest artist with Indianapolis Ballet and Cincinnati Opera.
