Het Nationale Ballet

Het Nationale Ballet

Classical, modern and contemporary works

A unique repertoire and high technical and artistic standards have contributed to Het Nationale Ballet (the Dutch National Ballet) becoming one of the world’s leading ballet companies. Despite its name, Het Nationale Ballet is an international company with dancers who either come from or are regular guests with other prestigious companies. Het Nationale Ballet is by far the largest dance company in the Netherlands, with 80 dancers and more than 125 members of staff.

Het Nationale Ballet performs a mixture of classical, romantic, neo-classical, modern and contemporary works and has made an important contribution to the emergence and development of young choreographic talent, and thus to a contemporary Dutch style of choreography.

Ex-resident choreographers Rudi van Dantzig and Toer van Schayk and resident choreographer Hans van Manen all experienced their first great international successes with this company. Furthermore, Het Nationale Ballet has also produced a whole new generation of choreographers, which includes artistic director Ted Brandsen, resident choreographer Krzysztof Pastor and freelance choreographer David Dawson – all ex-dancers from the company. Their work is performed by companies all over the world from the Washington Ballet to the West Australian Ballet. Choreographers from the Netherlands and from abroad are also regularly invited to produce new works exclusively for Het Nationale Ballet.

Since 1986, Het Nationale Ballet has been based in Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam, one of the largest and best-equipped theatres in Europe.