Principal Dancer Elisa Badenes was awarded the title of „Kammertänzerin“ by Minister Petra Olschowski at a ceremony in the State Theater Stuttgart today. The Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg awards this honorary title in recognition of special achievements and merits. The title recognizes an excellent level of dance and performance over many years and is the highest honor which can be bestowed upon a dancer in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Very few dancers have been awarded this title. In the more than sixty-year history of the Stuttgart Ballet, only three other women have received this honor: Birgit Keil, Sue Jin Kang and Alicia Amatriain.
Minister Petra Olschowski congratulates the award-winner: „Elisa Badenes can look back on a rapid rise at the Stuttgart Ballet. She is an exceptional talent, an outstanding dancer and stage artist. Whether classical or modern – she guarantees the highest ballet and dance artistry: stylistically confident, technically perfect, natural and with an astonishing ease. For the Stuttgart Ballet, she is also a valuable source of inspiration, a figure of integration and a role model for the company. Last but not least, she carries the outstanding reputation of the Stuttgart Ballet out into the world. I am very pleased that Elisa Badenes can now use the honorary title of “Kammertänzerin” for her special achievements.“
Artistic director Tamas Detrich, who hired Elisa Badenes as a very young dancer for the Stuttgart Ballet and significantly encouraged and supported her development over the last fourteen years, said: „She has more than earned this title. All her hard work, her enormous dancing and artistic talent, her ability to inspire choreographers and audiences alike and, on top of that, being a colleague who is highly valued by everyone, are what set Elisa apart. I am immensely happy for her and very proud.“
The laudatory speech for Elisa Badenes was given by her former colleague and former resident choreographer of the Stuttgart Ballet, Demis Volpi, who is now Director of the Ballett am Rhein. In his speech, he emphasized the many good reasons for this award: „Elisa is a great dancer and an exceptional artist with flawless technique, impeccable musicality, exquisite dramatic abilities and artistic and technical versatility. But Elisa also embodies a quality that is very rare to find: the ability to bring people together. Her humility and charisma are a magnetic combination. She brings audiences all over the world together in their admiration of dance and empathy for the characters she gives life to. However, her strength isn’t limited to the stage: she is just as powerful off it – in the ballet studio, in the hallways of the theater, in the canteen – everywhere she goes, she emanates humility, a sense of humor and an enthusiasm for her work. She a true inspiration to anyone who has the good fortune to encounter her. I think it’s safe to say that she has become an outstanding role model for other dancers because she personifies all of the best qualities that make out what we call the „Stuttgart Ballet Spirit“.
Elisa Badenes was born in Valencia, Spain. She attended the Conservatorio Profesional de Danza de Valencia. At the Prix de Lausanne in 2008 she won a scholarship for the Royal Ballet School from which she graduated one year later. In the 2009/10 season Elisa Badenes joined the Stuttgart Ballet as an apprentice, in 2010/11 she was taken into the Corps de ballet. She was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2013/14.
Elisa Badenes has received several honors and prizes including the Gold medal of the Youth American Grand Prix, the Audience Choice Award of the Erik Bruhn Competition in Toronto in 2011 and the German Dance Prize Future in 2015. In Dance Europe’s Critics‘ Choice 2020 she was named in the category „Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer“. In 2023 she was awarded “Dancer of the Year” by the “Dance Europe” magazine.
