Ib Andersen (born 14 December 1954) is a Danish

ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

and

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

. He was

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be either gender. The position is similar to that of ''Soloist (ballet), solois ...

for the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet ( Danish: ''Den Kongelige Ballet'') is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world a ...

1975-1980, for the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

1980-1990, freelancing

ballet master A ballet master (also balletmaster, ballet mistress, ''premier maître de ballet'' or ''premier maître de ballet en chef'') is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In mo ...

1990-2000 and

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

of Ballet Arizona 2000-2024.

Biography

Early days

Born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Andersen was first exposed to dance through ballroom dancing. At age 7, he was accepted into the Royal Danish Ballet School, which is attached to the

. There he studied with

Kirsten Ralov Kirsten Ralov (26 March 1922 – 30 May 1999) was a Danish ballerina. She was born to Kai and Kaja Gnatt, née Olsen, a family of dancers living in Baden, Austria. Kirsten's mother encouraged her, and her brother Poul Gnatt, Poul, to train as danc ...

, Hans Brenaa, Flemming Ryberg, and Vera Volkova. He also studied in Germany, France, and the United States, where he took classes 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 ...

. In 1972, at the age 18, he graduated from the Copenhagen school and was accepted by the

as an apprentice.

Royal Danish Ballet

After a year as apprentice at the Royal Danish Ballet, Andersen was in 1973 accepted into its ''

corps de ballet In ballet, the ''corps de ballet'' (; French language, French for "body of the little dance") is the group of ballet dancer, dancers who are not principal dancers or Soloist (ballet), soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and ...

'' and was promoted to

in 1975, at the age of 20, which made him the youngest principal in the company's history. At the Royal Danish Ballet, Andersen appeared in leading roles in ballets of the 19th century Danish

August Bournonville August Bournonville (21 August 1805 – 30 November 1879) was a Danish ballet master and choreographer. He was the son of Antoine Bournonville, a dancer and choreographer trained under the French choreographer, Jean Georges Noverre, and the ne ...

, such as ''

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

'', ''

Flower Festival in Genzano ''The Flower Festival in Genzano'' () is a one-act ballet by Danish choreographer and ballet master August Bournonville (1805–1879). Bournonville created the work for Denmark's Royal Ballet on December 19, 1858, at the Royal Danish Theatre, on ...

'',
Far from Denmark
', '' The Kermesse in Bruges'' and '' A Folk Tale'', as well as in classic ballets such as ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

'', ''

Coppélia ''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Éti ...

'' and ''

Giselle ''Giselle'' ( , ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (; ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet () in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, it was first perfor ...

''. He also performed in many modern ballets, creating the role of the Boy in the 1976 revival of

Rudi van Dantzig Rudi van Dantzig (4 August 1933 – 19 January 2012) was a Dutch choreographer, company director, and writer. He was a pivotal figure in the rise to world renown of Dutch ballet in the latter half of the twentieth century. He was co-director and ...

's ''Monument for a Dead Boy'' and dancing the part of The Chosen in Glen Tetley's radical interpretation of

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

's '' Le Sacre du Printemps'' in 1978.

New York City Ballet

In 1980,

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

invited him to join the

and he had to learn 35 ballets within the first three months of his tenure. Roles that were created for him by Balanchine included '' Ballade'' (1980), '' Robert Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze'' (1980), and '' Mozartiana'' (1981).

Peter Martins Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish former ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and J ...

and

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

also created roles for him in several works. After suffering a hip injury in 1988, Andersen returned to the stage but eventually decided to retire from New York City Ballet in 1990, giving his final NYCB performance on 29 June 1990 in Balanchine's 1928 ''

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

''. Altogether, Andersen appeared in some sixty ballets during his ten years with the company.

Balanchine répétiteur

After his departure from NYCB, Andersen staged works by Balanchine for ballet companies around the world, having been appointed an accredited Balanchine

répétiteur A (; from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. The feminine form is . Opera In opera, a is the person responsible for coaching singers ...

by the George Balanchine Trust. He also staged ballets by

and others. In 1999 he staged Giselle for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and in 2013 he created a new production of The Kermesse in Bruges for the Royal Danish Ballet.

Ballet Arizona

In 2000, after a brief period as ballet master for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Andersen was appointed artistic director of Ballet Arizona, where he for more than 24 years oversaw a repertory of classical and contemporary ballets and also staged many works by Balanchine. He also created a number of original works for the company. In 2024 he stepped down from the role as artistic director and was appointed Artistic Director Emeritus for the company.

Choreographer

In 1987, while Andersen was still with NYCB, the Royal Danish Ballet gave him his first choreographic commission, for which he created ''1-2-3—1-2''.Ballet Arizona: Ib Andersen biography
/ref> This was followed by other works for a.o. the New York City Ballet, the Slovenian National Theatre Ballet, the Royal Ballet of Flanders, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens 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 ...

. From 2000 Andersen created a large number of works for Ballet Arizona.

Selected choreographic works

* 1987: ''1-2-3—1-2'' (music, Schoenberg, J. Strauss Jr., Lizst), Royal Danish Ballet * 1988: ''Baroque Variations'' (music, Foss), New York City Ballet * 1989: ''Fête Galante'' (music, Couperin), Royal Danish Ballet * 1991: ''The New World'' (music, Dvořák), Slovenian National Theater Ballet, Ljubljana * 1992: ''Carnaval'' (music, Schumann, and others), Royal Ballet of Flanders, Antwerp * 1993: ''Holberg Suite'' (music, Grieg), Norwegian National Ballet * 1993: ''Simple Symphony'' (music, Britten), Tokyo * 1994: ''Brandenburg Concerti'' (music, Bach), Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle * 2003: ''Romeo and Juliet'' (Prokofiev), Ballet Arizona * 2004: ''Mosaik'' (music, Chopin, Berlioz, Schubert, and others), Ballet Arizona * 2006: ''The Nutcracker'' (music, Tchaikovsky), Ballet Arizona * 2007: ''Play'' (music, Mozart, Schubert, Britten, Pärt, Stravinsky), Ballet Arizona * 2008: ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (music, Mendelsohn), Ballet Arizona * 2008: ''Dance of the Hours'' (music, Ponchielli), Ballet Arizona * 2009: ''Sueños'' (music, Massenet, Rossini), Ballet Arizona * 2010: ''Diversions'' (music, Britten), Ballet Arizona * 2011: ''Symphonie Classique'' (music, Prokofiev), Ballet Arizona * 2011: ''Cinderella'' (music, Prokofiev), Ballet Arizona * 2012: ''Topia'' (music, Beethoven), Ballet Arizona * 2015: ''Pines of Rome'' (music, Respighi), Ballet Arizona * 2016: ''Round'' (music, Debussy a.o.), Ballet Arizona * 2017: ''Rio'' (music, Philip Glass), Ballet Arizona * 2018: ''Eroica'' (music, Beethoven), Ballet Arizona * 2019: ''The Firebird'' (music, Stravinsky), Ballet Arizona * 2021: ''The Four Seasons'' (music, Vivaldi), Ballet Arizona * 2022: ''Juan Gabriel'' (music, Juan Gabriel), Ballet Arizona * 2023: ''The Rite of Spring'' (music, Stravinsky), Ballet Arizona * 2024: ''Peter and the Wolf'' (music, Prokofiev), School of Ballet Arizona

Appearances on video and film

Andersen is a featured dancer in the Danish documentary film ''At Danse Bournonville'' (English title: ''Dancing Bournonville'', 1979). He appears in leading roles in videos of Balanchine's ''Robert Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze'' (1981; The Balanchine Library, Nonesuch, 1995), ''Mozartiana'' (1983; PBS, "A New York City Ballet Tribute to George Balanchine"), and ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...

'' (1986), in which he dances the role of Oberon. He also appears in the "Dance in America" television broadcasts of Peter Martins's ''Concerto for Two Solo Pianos'' (1983) and ''Valse Triste'' (1991) and in archival footage in the documentary film ''Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About'' by Kultur Video in 2008. Among many videos of rehearsals and performances with New York City Ballet that can be viewed in the Jerome Robbins Dance Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Andersen can be seen in ''Balanchine Continued, at Ballet Arizona'', part of the "Works and Process" performance series at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, recorded in November 2004.

References

External links

Ib Andersen
on the website of Ballet Arizona
Ib Andersen
in th
Oxford Reference
Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Andersen, Ib 1954 births Living people Royal Danish Ballet dancers Danish male ballet dancers 20th-century Danish ballet dancers Danish choreographers Royal Danish Ballet principal dancers New York City Ballet principal dancers