About
The Junior Company was established jointly by Dutch National Ballet and the Dutch National Ballet Academy in 2013 to bridge the worlds of training and professional practice. Its success has exceeded all expectations, with the company now receiving invitations to perform around the globe as well as hundreds of applications annually from dancers worldwide to audition for a place in the celebrated company.
At present, one-third of the Dutch National Ballet corps consists of former Junior Company members, most notably soloist Michaela DePrince, grand sujets Riho Sakamota, Jessica Xuan, Yuanyuan Zhang, Martin ten Kortenaar and Sho Yamada, and corps de ballet dancer Timothy van Poucke. Dutch National Ballet’s artistic director Ted Brandsen affirms, ‘I am very proud of everything the group has managed to achieve and accomplish in such a relatively short time. These talented young dancers also boost the company as a whole, and contribute to a very positive working environment. They’re used to cooperating as a group and have performed together all over in Holland and around the world, and they bring those qualities with them when they “move up” to Dutch National Ballet.’