DANCE INSTITUTIONS
The Netherlands has many professional Dance Institutions - all of them have a different educational focus like: contemporary, classical, choreography or musical.
PRIMARY SCHOOL / INTEGRATED
At the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, The Rotterdam Dance Academy and the National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam you will find dance education which is integrated with general education (final two years of Primary School and/or Secundary School). Students, must speak, write and read Dutch since you have to be capable of following the regular education as well.
PRIVATE SCHOOL & INSTITUTION TOGETHER
If you do not speak Dutch (yet) some Professional Dance Institutions have a preparatory course where students receive ballet and or contemporary dance classes on Friday and Saturday. During the other days they follow balletclasses at a private school and they go to a regular school for general education.
HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
For students that have completed Secondary Education there are several schools with a possibility for international students. In Amsterdam you will find the Theatre School, which is part of the Amsterdam School of the Arts. This school offers twelve courses of higher professional education (HBO) in dance, theatre and theatre technology and production.
In Rotterdam we have the Rotterdam Dance Academy, part of Codarts. This Academy has several departments specialising in (contemporary) dancer, choreographer, dance therapy or dance teacher. Some school's have a special (one year) programme for international students. For example; at the Rotterdam Dance Acadamy you can receive a contract for one year especially to focus on contemporary dance.
Specialisation in classical ballet (or contemporary) is offered by the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague and the National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam. Enrolment for the Royal Conservatoire or the National Ballet Academy after Secundary Education is only possible for students from other professional institutions. The maximum age for girls is +/-18 and for boys +/-21.
For every Professional Dance Institution (including any preparatory course) you have to audition or in most cases, if you are not from the Netherlands, they will ask you to send in a DVD or VHS recording of yourself to make a first selection, followed by a personal audition and a medical examination.
Please note the information on this page has been made with the utmost care. However Balletschool Mabel Alter cannot be held accountable for accuracy, completeness or functionalety of the information.
COMPANY
You don't have to speak Dutch to be a professional dancer in the Netherlands, it is important though that you ar able to speak English.
The two major companies are The Dutch National Ballet en the Nederlands Dans Theater.
The Dutch National Ballet
The National Ballet is about the only company to perform classical repertoire like Swan Lake but also Balanchine and repertoire by Hans van Manen.
Nederlands Dans Theater
The Nederlands Dans Theater is well known for repertoire by Jiri Kylian, at pressent you see them perform choreographies by a.o. Lightfoot León, Jacopo Godani, Ohad Naharin and William Forsythe.
Other important companies in the Netherlands are:
Dance Works Rotterdam (artistic director: Ton Simons)
Dansgroep Amsterdam (artistic director: Krisztina de Châtel and Itzik Galili)
Introdans, Arhnem (artistic director: Roel Voorintholt)
&
Scapino Ballet Rotterdam (artistic director: Ed Wubbe)
Find all companies and schools in the Netherlands at:
balletcompanies.com