Rui Cruz grew up in a small town in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He began his dance training at the age of thirteen at Núcleo de Dança- Ador’art, and at fourteen he moved to the capitol of Rio de Janeiro, continuing his studies at Grupo Cultural de Dança-Ilha under the direction of Patrícia Marques. For five years he studied and participated in several national and international competitions. He won first place at the Festival de Danca de Joinville in 2019 the largest dance competition by number of dancers, as documented by Guinness World Records, he was also Top 12 at the Youth American Grand Prix Finals in 2020, 48th edition of Prix de Lausanne and the 49th edition of Prix de Lausanne, where he qualified as a finalist and received the Contemporary Dance Award by Minerva Kunststiftung.

Rui has been awarded numerous scholarships from top training facilities including Miami City Ballet School, Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Boston Ballet School, Tulsa Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Paris Marais Dance School and the Joffrey Ballet Studio Company.

At 19, Rui was named company apprentice at Miami City Ballet. He was extended an offer to join MCB as corps de ballet member shortly thereafter in 2021.

In 2022 Cruz attended to Netherlands Dans Theater (NDT) Summer Intensive and also received the “Merito Legislativo” prize from Levy Gasparian’s Town Hall.