Royal Ballet of Flanders

Royal Ballet of Flanders
General information
Name Royal Ballet of Flanders
Local name Koninklijk Ballet Vlaanderen
Year founded 1969
Principal venue Theater ’t Eilandje, Antwerp
Website www.operaballet.be
Senior staff
Chief Executive Bart Van der Roost
Artistic staff
Artistic Director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Deputy Director Tamas Moricz
Resident Choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui; Pina Bausch, William Forsythe, Hans Van Manen, Akhram Khan, Ohad Naharin, Marcia Haydee, Crystal Pite, Edouard Lock, Demis Volpi, Jaroen Verbruggen,
Other
Official school Royal Ballet School of Flanders
Formation
  • Principals
  • Soloists
  • Corps de Ballet

The Royal Ballet of Flanders is a dance company based in Antwerp, Belgium, specializing in classical ballet, neoclassical ballet and contemporary ballet. In its current incarnation, the company was established in 1969. It tours internationally.

History

The current Royal Ballet of Flanders was established by Belgium's federal Ministry of Dutch Culture in 1969.[1] Previously, Belgium had two professional classical ballet companies, the Royal Ballet of Flanders and Ballet Royale de Wallonie. The Ballet Royale de Wallonie, founded in 1966, was brought under the direction of Frédéric Flamand in 1991, who renamed the company Charleroi/Danse and shifted the focus of the troupe entirely onto modern dance.

Jeanne Brabants was the founder and original Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders. She was succeeded as Artistic Director by Rus Valery Panov, then Robert Denvers.[2]

In September 2012, Assis Carreiro was appointed Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders and since her arrival has commissioned and produced works by Wayne McGregor, Jacopo Godani, Edward Clug, Glen Tetley, Ashley Page, among others. Previous Artistic Director Kathryn Bennetts took her post in 2005 and raised the company's international profile by adding contemporary works including those of William Forsythe to its repertoire and touring more extensively. An award-winning company, it has been described as "today one of the best companies in Europe".[3]

In the 2014 New Year Honours list, Assis Carreiro was appointed a MBE by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

In September 2015 Antwerpen based choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui took the new artistic directorship, along with co-director Tamas Moricz ( William Forsythe dancer.) Together they have became the new artistic co-directors to a reforming Ballet of Flanders under the new aegis of the opera ballet Kunsthuis. The company repertoire has been since shifting to a predominantly contemporary mix of dance works. Focusing on new works by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and touring.

See also

References

  1. Cohen, Selma Jeanne (1998). International encyclopedia of dance: a project of Dance Perspectives Foundation. Oxford University Press. p. 422. ISBN 9780195123098.
  2. Flemish-Netherlands Foundation "Stichting Ons Erfdeel" (2010). The Low Countries: Arts and Society in Flanders and the Netherlands, a Yearbook, Volume 18. Pennsylvania State University. p. 271.
  3. Sulcas, Roslyn (March 18, 2011). "Ascendant ballet troupe may trip over finances". New York Times. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
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