On 1 February, Ernst Meisner will assume the role of Associate Director of Talent Development at Dutch National Ballet. This new position highlights the company’s commitment to talent development for both ballet dancers and choreographers.
As the Associate Director of Talent Development, Meisner will be responsible for the entire talent development chain, including collaborating with ballet schools, such as the Dutch National Ballet Academy, ensuring the optimal functioning of the Junior Company, and creating and maintaining an inspiring environment for the development of talented dancers and choreographers for the Dutch National Ballet. Meisner will be responsible for programming the ballet performances in Studio Boekman.
Currently the artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam, which is part of the Academy of Theatre and Dance, Meisner is also the artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company. He will gradually step down from his position as the artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet Academy, which he has held since 2018, and leave on 1 August 2024. Meisner will continue as the artistic director of the Junior Company while also taking on a new position with Dutch National Ballet.
Ernst Meisner (the Netherlands, 1982) is a choreographer, and has been artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company since its foundation in 2013. Alongside that position, he was also artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet Academy from 2018. Meisner trained as a dancer with the Dutch National Ballet Academy and danced with The Royal Ballet and Dutch National Ballet. He has choreographed several works for Dutch National Ballet and the Junior Company, including a number of special projects like The Dutch National Canta Ballet (2012) and the children’s performance The little big chest (2011). In collaboration with Marco Gerris from ISH Dance Collective, he also created the highly acclaimed hiphop-meets-ballet productions Narnia: The lion, the witch and the wardrobe (2015), GRIMM (2018) and Dorian (2023).
In 2021, Meisner received the ‘Special Prize’ from Dansersfonds ’79 for his great contribution to talent development in classical dance.
Ernst Meisner BIO here
