Bayerisches Junior Ballett München

Philosophy

Sixteen promising young dancers between the ages of 17 and 21 are given the opportunity to gain professional experience on stage for two years as members of the Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich.

2022/23

Ensemble

Eloise Alsop

Chiara Bacci

Lara Bircak

Denisa Bzhetaj

Jamie Constance

Florence Joffre

Samuel López Legaspi

Luca Massara

Auguste Marmus

Marina Mata Gómez

Lorien Ramo Ruiz

Maxine Morales

Antoine Randon

Soren Sakadales

Tyler Robinson

Zofia Wara-Wasowska

Spring Matinées Tickets
Spring Awakening with masters of choreography... 
Spring Awakening with masters of choreography... 
Spring Awakening with masters of choreography... 
Spring Awakening with masters of choreography... 

Touring

As a cultural ambassador of the Free State of Bavaria and the City of Munich, the ensemble has performed all over Germany, as well as in Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Israel and Hong Kong to great success.

Show Calendar

Repertoire

Humour and wit, elegance and simplicity, sophistication and joy – the Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich reaches a broad audience with its varied programmes of high-quality dance pieces. At each of their performances they perform a selection of pieces that is carefully chosen from their extensive repertoire of canonical and internationally acclaimed classical, neo-classical and contemporary works to ensure that the audience experiences an unforgettable evening of dance. A wonderful introduction to the art of dance!

bonbon
Songs of a Wayfarer
Concertante
All Long Dem Day
Allegro Brillante
Ballet 102
Stimmenstrahl Trio
Love Messages
In the Forest
Immortally Beloved
Un Ballo
Appalachian Spring
3 Preludes
The Triadic Ballet

Kooperationspartner

Das Bayerische Junior Ballett München (BJBM) wurde 2010 als erste und größte Junior Company in Deutschland gegründet und ist eine innovative Partnerschaft zwischen den bedeutendsten Tanz-Institutionen Münchens: dem Bayerischen Staatsballett, der Ballett-Akademie der Hochschule für Musik und Theater München und der Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung.

Artistic Direction & Team

Ivan Liška

Künstlerischer Leiter

Olivier Vercoutere

Proben- und Trainingsleiter

Our Ambassador

Supporting the Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich is a cause very close to the heart of our ambassador Irène Lejeune.

She has been involved with ballet for many years, while also running her own foundation “Herz für Herz – Stiftung für Leben”. From 2009 she was a patron of the Bavarian State Ballet under the directorship of Ivan Liška for many years, and since 2016 she has been collaborating with the Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich. Her commitment allows us to build a broad and varied repertoire. Her great love of dance, her determination and her loyalty are what make Irène Lejeune, our generous ambassador, so special.

ONSTAGE

ON STAGE WITH THE BAVARIAN STATE BALLET

The dancers of the ensemble gain experience on stage by regularly participating in performances by the Bavarian State Ballet at the Nationaltheater Munich. In the 2022/23 season they are dancing in the following ballets:

Christopher Wheeldon’s «Cinderella»
John Cranko’s «Romeo and Juliet»
Patrice Bart’s «La Bayadere»

Studio

A bonbon...? - Rehearsals for Lior Tavoris new creation

A special highlight awaits the audiences of the autumn matinees 2022: the Heinz-Bosl-Foundation has commissioned a new score for Lior Tavori's new creation «bonbon». The Israeli composer Itamar Gross has written a piece that musically expresses the artistic work of the choreographer Lior Tavori with our dancers. In doing so, Lior Tavori explores the tensions between folk dance and contemporary dance and draws on his early experiences in Israeli folk dance.

Touring

100 Years Later: The Triadic Ballet on Tour in Stuttgart and Berlin

Exactly 100 years after the first performance at the Wüttemburgishe Landestheater, on 30th September 2022 the Bayerisches Junior Ballett München returned to Stuttgart to perform Oskar Schlemmer's cult «The Traidic Ballet» before four sold-out performances. The tour concluded in Berlin with another three performances at the Academy of Arts Berlin, where Gerhard Bohner's reconstruction was critically investigated in 1977. Considered as one of the greatest achievements in the Bauhaus art movement, Schlemmer’s reimagining of the human body as a new artistic medium still manages to captivate audiences 100 years later.

Portrait

A Day in the Life of the Juniors

Former Ensemble member Phoebe Schembri explains what her daily schedule with the Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich looks like: from waking up in the Heinz-Bosl-Foundation’s boarding house to daily training and rehearsals. Originally filmed for our Digital Season in 2020, today Phoebe is a corps-de-ballet member of the Bavarian State Ballet.

Portrait

Stories of Empowerment: 10 Year of the Juniors

To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich in 2020, we invited talented young videographers from Rue Nouvelle & Studio CNP to travel across Europe and create portraits of some of our former ensemble members. However, Covid-19’s restrictions meant the team were no longer able to travel and were forced to rethink the idea. What emerged was a concept where each of the dancers filmed themselves. A detailed plan was created and the team sent out two video kits containing the equipment along with instructions on how to use it. These kits travelled from one city to another and each of the scenes were filmed within a period of one month. Connecting the dancers’ unique personalities across different locations and scenarios, they filmed themselves responding to a series of questions through improvised movement creating an installation-like film that expresses the role that dance plays in their lives today.

Studio

Quicksilver footwork and a generous upper body

«Allegro Brillante» marks a return to Balanchine's origins and retrospectively becomes a celebration of his training at Saint Petersburg’s Imperial Ballet School and his time with the Mariinsky Ballet. Balanchine's masterpiece entered the repertoire of the Bayerisches Junior Ballet München in 2012 and has become a calling card for the different generations of ensemble members since. Ahead of the Autumn-Matinee performances in 2022 dancers of the Bayerisches Junior Ballett München have been working with ballet master Olivier Vercoutere to refine the choreographic and stylistic qualities synonymous with Balanchine's work.

Essay

Why we love dance

Right now, we have to do without. We are without art, without culture, without dance. The theatres have been closed for weeks. Creative practitioners and art lovers are falling on hard times, not just financially, but mentally and emotionally, too. Why do we need cultural input? Why do we need our theatres?

Essay

Abstrakte Sensibilität: 100 Jahre Triadisches Ballett. 1922-2022

„Zeichen unserer Zeit ist die Abstraktion […]. Zeichen unserer Zeit sind die neuen Möglichkeiten, gegeben durch Technik und Erfindung, die völlig neue Voraussetzungen schaffen und die Verwirklichung der kühnsten Phantasien erlauben oder hoffen lassen. Die Bühne, die Zeitbild sein sollte und besonders zeitbedingte Kunst ist, darf an diesen Zeichen nicht vorübergehen.“ – Oskar Schlemmer

Interview

Choreography is never a one-way street: A conversation with Jörg Mannes

Jörg Mannes was born in Vienna in 1969. Between the years 2006 and 2019 Jörg was the Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer of the State Theatre in Hannover. During this time he created individual 38 ballets, mostly full-length evenings for up to 30 dancers, which played to almost consistently sold-out audiences. Munich’s audiences may already be familiar to Jörg’s choreography through his creations «Der Sturm» (The Tempest) and «Wohin er auch blickt» (Wherever he looks) for the Bavarian State Ballet in 2007 and 2010 respectively. The following interview took place in the middle of March via video call.

Studio

A Group piece to showcase the ensemble's talents

Following the success of his 2018 creation «Stimmenstrahl Trio», in 2022 Maged Mohamed returned to reinterpret Aaron Copland's famous ballet score «Appalachian Spring». With its accentuated dances and idyllic interludes that fade into nocturnal slumber, «Appalachian Spring» is an inspiring musical springboard to showcase the diversity of the current generation of the junior company.

Essay

„Welcome to professional life“: Von der Verantwortung des Zuschauers

Als sich der Vorhang in Villingen-Schwenningen für die jungen Tänzerinnen und Tänzer des Bayerischen Junior Ballett München öffnet, liegen drei Wochen intensiven Probens hinter ihnen – ein fast zweistündiges Programm musste in dieser kurzen Zeit einstudiert werden.

Ballet and Wilderness

Pas de deux with a sycamore maple

"Less aesthetic and more natural please." These were choreographer Martina La Ragione's instructions to the dancers at a gathering of spectators interested in sharing the development of her project in June 2019. And when the command "break up the lines again" was given, the artists of the Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich knew immediately what was meant.

Interview

When beginnings flow: the remarkable TANZLAND cooperation.

The Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich (BJBM) and the City of Villingen-Schwenningen have been building a close partnership over the last three seasons. The company visited the city on four occasions between Spring 2018 and Autumn 2020, performing four different programmes. In addition, there have been many workshops and participatory projects. The collaboration is one of thirteen projects in Germany funded through the TANZLAND programme, which aims to bring contemporary dance to regional audiences who do not have easy access to big cities or cultural centres. The TANZLAND fund for touring partnerships was initiated by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and is managed by the Umbrella Association for Dance in Germany, the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland e.V.. It funds collaboration between dance companies and theatres or venues that do not have their own dance ensembles (“INTHEGA venues” in German).

Portrait

"Don’t be afraid to be ugly!"

Created for the 2019 Autumn Matinees, celebrated British choreographer Caroline Finn talks about «When she knew» and the physical authenticity that emerges from the vulnerability of the human condition. Set to Jordi Savall’s hauntingly beautiful interpretations of renaissance music and a countertenor aria from Antonio Vivaldi, this portrait was created ahead of the Heinz-Bosl-Foundation's Digital Season in 2020.

Essay

Wenn junge Künstler nach dem Licht suchen

Wie ein Funke springt die jugendliche Frische und Freude im Nationaltheater von der Bühne in den Zuschauerraum. Berührend sind die jungen Tänzerinnen und Tänzer, die ihr Talent mit uns teilen.

Essay

Jung unter Jungen: Ivan Liška und das Bayerische Junior Ballett München

Von Berlin aus gesehen, ist Bayern ein gesegnetes Land. Zumindest jenseits politischer Stammtische. Die Landschaft ist göttlich, die Städte sind schön, Tradition wird groß geschrieben, Innovation mit Volldampf betrieben. Das zieht natürlich auch Künstler an, die hier Gelegenheit (samt Geld und Gönnern) finden, das umzusetzen, wovon sie träumen. Ein solcher Freigeist ist Ivan Liška.

Portrait

Interpreting Beethoven's mystery for the stage

Renowned dance film director Benedict Mirow spoke with Jörg Mannes ahead of his 2020 creation «Immortal Beloved». Originally intended to be performed as part of the global Beethoven 250 celebrations, Mannes' ballet to Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto was first performed as part of the Bavarian State Opera's "Mondaypieces - Live Stream Series" following repeated cancellations due to theatre closures during the pandemic.

TOURING AGENT

We are represented by the booking agent KONZERTDIREKTION LANDGRAF for all our tours in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. If you are interested in inviting the Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich, we are more than happy to pass on your enquiry.

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