The Royal Ballet of Flanders is a dance company based in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, specializing in classical, neoclassical and

contemporary ballet Contemporary ballet is a dance genre that incorporates elements of classical ballet and modern dance. It employs classical ballet technique and in many cases classical pointe technique as well, but allows a greater range of movement of the upper ...

. 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. Previously, Belgium had two professional classical ballet companies, the Royal Ballet of Flanders and . The Ballet royale de Wallonie, founded in 1966, was brought under the direction of

Frédéric Flamand Frédéric Flamand (born 1946 in Brussels) is a Belgian actor, director, and choreographer. Biography Flamand founded the Plan K contemporary dance company in 1973. From 1979, it occupied a former sugar refinery in Molenbeek. He was interested i ...

in 1991, who renamed the company Charleroi/Danse and shifted the focus of the troupe entirely onto

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...

. 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. 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. Winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in the category Dance Companies under her direction in 2009 as well as the London Circle Critics National Dance Award in 2012 for Outstanding company during her last season made the company an award-winning company, it has since been described as "today one of the best companies in Europe". In the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

list, Assis Carreiro was appointed a MBE by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

of the United Kingdom. In September 2015 Antwerp based choreographer

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (born 10 March 1976) is a Belgian dancer and choreographer and director. He has made over 50 choreographic pieces and received two Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, three Ballet Tanz awards for best cho ...

took the new artistic directorship, along with co-director Tamas Moricz (William Forsythe dancer). Together they 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 Cherkaoui and touring.

Notable dancers

* Bernice Coppieters * Drew Jacoby *

Lorena Feijóo Lorena Feijóo (born ) is a Cuban former ballet dancer. Her dance career started in 1988 at the Cuban National Ballet, but left Cuba two years later for more opportunities. After stints at Ballet de Monterrey, Royal Ballet of Flanders and Joff ...

* Nancy Osbaldeston * Karina Jäger-von Stülpnagel

References

{{Authority control Culture in Antwerp Ballet companies Performing groups established in 1969 1969 establishments in Belgium

History

Notable dancers

See also

References