Tivoli Ballet Theatre

The Pantomime Theatre is home to the Tivoli Ballet Theatre, Tivoli's in-house ballet company led by Artistic Director Peter Bo Bendixen

The company consists of 20 classically trained dancers from all over the world – including three character dancers from Denmark. Aside from the Royal Danish Ballet, the Tivoli Ballet Theatre is the only classically-based ballet company in Denmark.

Each summer, it stages almost 300 performances in the Pantomime Theatre, with genres spanning classical ballets, fairy tale ballets, modern works and traditional pantomime. Most have been created specifically for the company.

The Tivoli Ballet Theatre also produced the magical Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker. Performed in the Tivoli Concert Hall in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018. This production features Queen Margrethe II of Denmark as set designer, and can be enjoyed once more in December 2016. Our partnership with the Queen dates back to 2001, when she became affiliated with the Pantomime Theatre as in-house set designer. She has since created décor and costumes for a variety of fairy tale ballets.

In 2019, big emotions were on show as Tivoli hosted the world premiere of a new interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale, "The Snow Queen". Friendship and bravery, love and innocence, and a touch of nastiness. The Snow Queen is an at times gloomy, but also heart-warming, story of Gerda and Kay's struggles – told in ballet, music and song.

Queen Margrethe of Denmark was the creative force behind the costumes and décor, while the music was supplied by Oh Land, who, as well as being a composer and singer, was a ballet student herself as a little girl. The choreography was in the award-winning, expert hands of Yuri Possokhov. A former soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre, Yuri has since choreographed for leading companies all over the world, including the San Francisco Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet. These three strong personalities previously worked together on the successful production of Cinderella in 2016.

Tivoli Ballet School

Many of the Tivoli Ballet School's 220 students contribute to productions in the Pantomime Theatre and the Tivoli Concert Hall. As well as a close partnership on the stage and the exchange of teaching power, supporting talent development within the classical art form in Tivoli is one of the key tasks.

Partnerships with other companies

Our partnerships with other companies extend well beyond the Pantomime Theatre, just as many of our dancers contribute to productions staged by other international companies during the Tivoli off season.

In summer 2017, the German National Youth Ballet, based in Hamburg, visited the Pantomime Theatre. This was partly to perform some of their own works, but also to participate in "Accordion Stories", a ballet written specifically for the Pantomime Theatre, while several of our dancers participated in their productions. The National Youth Ballet visited Tivoli from 13–15 August 2017.

We have a special partnership with the Royal Danish Theatre, with many of our dancers participating in their opera productions.

We also work with choreographer Tim Rushton of Danish Dance Theatre, who has created several modern ballets for our repertoire in the Pantomime Theatre. This season, his ballets "Accordion Stories" and "Nomad" are on show.

International relationships

We make good use of our international network to develop the Tivoli Ballet Theatre and recruit the best teaching power from other ballet schools and companies. We work with people in New York, Hamburg, Toronto, Paris and London, to name just a few.

The Pantomime Theatre and the Tivoli icons

The Pantomime Theatre enjoys a unique position in Tivoli both as a building and through the repertoire that is performed every summer. The theatre is Tivoli's oldest building and is an integral part of the long history of the gardens.

Pierrot, Harlequin, Columbine and Cassandra are all Tivoli icons. They are not only seen in our pantomime performances, but are also well known outside Tivoli.

A royal cooperation

Queen Margrethe II

Queen Margrethe´s partnership with Tivoli dates back to 2001, when she created the set design for the Hans Christian Andersen production, "Love in the Dustbin", which combined three fairy tales into a story of pride that goes before a fall.

Then came "Thumbelina" in 2005, "The Tinderbox" in 2007, "The Swineherd" in 2009 and "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" in 2013. All the ballets featured choreography by Dinna Bjørn, former dancer at the Pantomime Theatre, Artistic Director of the Norwegian National Ballet, and now a highly respected Bournonville expert. The music was composed by James Price. In 2016 came ”Cinderella” this time with choreography by the renowned Yuri Possokhov and music by the Danish pop artist Oh Land.

The Queen also created sets and costumes for a full-length ballet, "The Nutcracker", in the Tivoli Concert Hall in 2012. This production was reprised in 2014, 2016 and 2018. In 2019 the Queen designed her latest full-length ballet “The Snow Queen” again together with Yuri Possokhov and Oh Land.

Traning for beginners and experienced dancers

Tivoli Ballet School

When the Tivoli Ballet School opened in 2012, the aim was to start a ballet school with high-quality training provided by some of the best ballet masters and teachers in Denmark. A place where children and young people could get started and gradually improve their skills in a safe, pleasant environment.

We offer classes for students for whom dancing is a hobby, and for students looking for more intensive training.

Since the 2018/19 season, our Higher Preparatory Ballet Programme has given young dancers who have graduated from primary and lower secondary school the opportunity to take the next step towards life as a professional dancer.

Our students have opportunities to perform on-stage and appear with the Tivoli Ballet Theatre in their productions and in the Ballet School's own productions on the various stages within the Gardens. We also work with Tivoli's other stages.

We currently have many happy students, and are looking forward to welcoming new ones to our studios to explore the wonderful art of ballet with us.

In recent years, the Tivoli Ballet Theatre has begun a tradition of hosting special children's performances in which students from the Ballet School take part.

In 2012, a special Rasmus Klump production was created for the Pantomime Theatre, in which Rasmus Klump visited Harlequin, Columbine and Pierrot. And in 2014, Tivoli gained its very own dancing competition, "Wild about Rasmus", in which Rasmus Klump was the chief umpire in a dancing competition between the Fairies, the Imps, and a child-sized Harlequin and Columbine.

In summer 2017, over 50 children took part in "The Ugly Chicken", a family show in which Pierrot offers his version of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. The young dancers were all ballet students from the Tivoli Ballet School.

Auditions

The Tivoli Ballet Theatre holds ongoing auditions in connection with new appointments for upcoming summer and winter seasons as well as for special projects. Professional dancers may also attend one of the Company's classes.

Apply