Tristan Grannum is originally from Brooklyn, New York. He began training in classical ballet at the age of 14 at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts and Manhattan Youth Ballet. Over the years, he has trained year-round at the School of Pennsylvania Ballet and Dance Theater of Harlem, where he was selected to dance in several outreach performances.

He has also attended many notable ballet summer programs on full scholarship, which include the Harid Conservatory, San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, and Charlotte Ballet. In June 2017, he was invited to and participated in an international dance competition (Royal Dance Grand Prix) held in Beijing, China under the direction of Nadege Hottier (Premiere Division). There, he won first place in the contemporary ballet category.

His professional performance credits include dancing with Brooklyn Ballet, Ballet Austin, Dayton Ballet, and the Black Iris Project. He has performed works by George Balanchine, Gerald Arpino, Septime Webre, Stephen Mills, Marianna Oliviera, and Tan Dao. Tristan has taught at several ballet/dance institutions across the country. He is a certified dance teacher through the Mark Morris Teaching Artist Training Program and the American Ballet Theater National Training Curriculum (Primary-Level 3). He is on the faculty at Brooklyn Ballet and the Mark Morris Dance Group. In 2021, Tristan was chosen as an emerging dance leader for the Dance/USA DILT program under Peter Boal’s mentorship (Pacific Northwest Ballet). He also was chosen as a School of American Ballet National Visiting Fellow for the 2021-2022 cohort. Formerly, Tristan was the Associate Artistic Director for the Brooklyn Center for the Arts, an arts organization which specializes in providing access to classical art forms for underprivileged individuals across New York City. There Tristan established over 15 dance programs throughout the Department of Education. Currently Tristan is Director of Community Engagement and Rehearsal Director for Brooklyn Ballet.