Ballet
Operating as a collective ensemble, the ballet company of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen fosters collaboration, creativity, and a thoughtful balance between tradition and innovation. The group of dancers is organised without any ranking. At the core of OBV is a commitment to daily training in ballet, Countertechnique®, and other methodologies that serve and enhance our repertory. Cultivating a positive, inclusive environment built on strong community, open collaboration, effective communication, and creative exploration, is prioritised.
Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (OBV) presents opera, ballet, music and dance theater as current and living art forms. The house focuses on the great works from the opera and dance history, on contemporary creations and rediscovered masterpieces. In 2014, Opera Vlaanderen merged with Ballet Vlaanderen, which was founded in 1969 by Jeanne Brabants. She was succeeded as artistic director by Valery Panov, Robert Denvers, Kathryn Bennetts, Assis Carreiro, and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Each of them gave a very individual artistic interpretation of what ballet can mean. What they all had in common was a desire for a diverse program. That also characterizes the policy of Jan Vandenhouwe, the current artistic director of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. Key points in his ballet programming are the stylistic flexibility from ballet to contemporary dance, passing on contemporary Flemish dance heritage to a new generation and creating hybrid large scale productions in which opera and ballet merge. Exploring new ways to bring the great ballet repertoire to the stage, is another key focus. Recent highlights are repertoire pieces by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker such as Mozart / Concert Arias, Fase and Rain; Wim Vandekeybus’ Puur, Pina Bausch’ Le Sacre du printemps and creations such as Jan Martens’ FUTUR PROCHE (that premiered in 2021 at the Cour d’honneur in Avignon) and GRACIELA QUINTET; Ella Rothschild’s Petroesjka, Alain Platels Ombra and Marcos Morau’s Romeo + Julia.
