Drew Jacoby (born September 2, 1984) is an American contemporary ballet dancer. As of 2020, she is a principal dancer of

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

Early life

Jacoby was born in

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

in 1984. She trained at the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

, the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

and

Pacific Northwest Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is an American ballet company based in Seattle, Washington. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States, with 11,000 subscribers in 2004. The company consists of 49 dancers and hosts ...

Career

In 2002, at age 17, Jacoby joined

Alonzo King LINES Ballet The Alonzo King LINES Ballet (AKLB) is an American contemporary ballet company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The ballet company, founded by choreography, choreographer Alonzo King, premiered at San Francisco State University's McKenna Thea ...

in San Francisco, at the invitation of

Alonzo King Alonzo King, born in Georgia to civil-rights activists Slater King and Valencia King Nelson, is an American dancer and choreographer based in San Francisco. King grew up in Georgia and California, and, as an adult, decided his contribution wo ...

. While at the Lines Ballet, Jacoby became a principal dancer and had numerous original works created on her by King. In 2005, she joined Sylvie Guillem's Japan tour, which she danced with dancers from

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...

and

Paris Opera Ballet The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded a ...

. In 2007 she moved to New York City to begin her freelance career, and market herself independently from a ballet company. In 2008, she formed an independent dance duo Jacoby & Pronk with Complexions Contemporary Ballet dancer

Rubinald Pronk Rubinald Rofino Pronk (born 17 July ), born and raised in The Hague, Netherlands, is a ''danseur'' performing with the List of Morphoses productions, Morphoses/Christopher Wheeldon, The Wheeldon Company. He trained at the Royal (Dutch) Conservator ...

. The dual has danced with

Dutch National Ballet The Dutch National Ballet ( Dutch: Het Nationale Ballet) is the official and largest ballet company in the Netherlands. Its forerunners were Ballet Der Lage Landen, Ballet of the Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam Ballet, and Netherlands Ballet (Nederl ...

and Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company. In 2010, Jacoby performed alongside

David Hallberg David Hallberg (born May 18, 1982) is an American classical ballet dancer. He was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and resident guest artist at The Australian Ballet, as well as a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet. In 2021, ...

, premiering Lauri Stalling's ''Both''. Jacoby danced with

Nederlands Dans Theater Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT; literal translation Netherlands Dance Theatre) is a Dutch contemporary dance dance company, company. NDT is headquartered at the ''Amare'' building in The Hague. NDT also performs at other venues in the Netherlands ...

from 2012 to 2015. Her partnership with Pronk therefore ended. She joined the

as a principal dancer in 2015, where she danced works by

Pina Bausch Philippine "Pina" Bausch (27 July 1940 – 30 June 2009) was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as . Bausch's approach was noted for a stylised blend of dance move ...

, William Forsythe and

Maurice Béjart Maurice Béjart (; 1 January 1927 – 22 November 2007) was a French dancer, choreographer and Theatre director, opera director who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He developed a popular expressionistic form of modern ballet, tac ...

, and worked with choreographers such as

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 ...

and

Jonah Bokaer Jonah Bokaer (born October 1, 1981) is an American choreographer and media artist. He works on live performances in the United States and elsewhere, including choreography, digital media, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and social enterprise. ...

. In 2019, Jacoby returned to the US to perform at

Maria Kochetkova Maria Olegovna Kochetkova (; born 1984) is a Russian ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet between 2007 and 2018, and with the American Ballet Theatre between 2015 and 2017. After that, she became a freelance da ...

's solo program, ''Catch Her If You Can'' at the

Joyce Theater The Joyce Theatre Foundation is a leading presenter of dance in New York City and nationally. It is runs, in part, from the Joyce Theater, a 472-seat dance performance venue located in the Chelsea, Manhattan, Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in ...

. The program also featured works choreographed by Jacoby, danced by herself and Kochetkova.

Selected repertory

Jacoby's repertory with the Royal Ballet of Flanders includes: *''Café Müller'' (Pina Bausch) *''Approximate Sonata'' (William Forsythe) *''The Sleeping Beauty'' (Marcia Haydée after Marius Petipa): Lilac Fairy *''Boléro'' (Maurice Béjart): Melody

Created roles

*''Requiem ''(Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui) *''The Nutcracker ''(Demis Volpi): Cake Aunt *''Shahrazad ''(Jonah Bokaer) *''Exhibition ''(Larbi Cherkaoui): Lady in the Long Dress *''Ma Mère l’Oye ''(Jeroen Verbruggen): Alma *''Fall ''(Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui)

Film

Jacoby has appeared in several films and videos, including the short film ''I Will Fall For You'', directed by

and

Woodkid Yoann Lemoine (; born 16 March 1983), known professionally as Woodkid, is a French music video director, graphic designer and singer-songwriter. His most notable works include his music video direction for Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream (Katy Perry ...

. Jacoby portrayed American dancer and theatrical pioneer

Loie Fuller Loie Fuller (; born Marie Louise Fuller; January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928), also known as Louie Fuller and Loïe Fuller, was an American dancer and a pioneer of modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques. Auguste Rodin said of her, "Lo ...

in the 2019 film ''

Radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

'', starring

Rosamund Pike Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is an English actress and producer. Known for psychological thrillers and dramas, she is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Rosamund Pike, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Em ...

and

Sam Riley Samuel Peter W. Riley (born 8 January 1980) is an English actor and singer.James Mottram: The only people for me are the mad ones. ''Independent on Sunday: The New Review'', 30 January 2011, pp 10–13 He is best known for his performance in t ...

Awards and honours

* Princess Grace Award, 2005 *Dance Magazine's "It Girl", 2007 Source:

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacoby, Drew American ballerinas Morphoses dancers Living people 1984 births People from Boise, Idaho School of American Ballet alumni Princess Grace Awards winners Dancers from Idaho 21st-century American dancers American expatriates in the Netherlands American expatriates in Belgium 21st-century American women