Innovative, international, interdisciplinary

The Hessian State Ballet (HSB) is the dance company of the state theaters in Wiesbaden and Darmstadt. Since its founding in 2014, the 28 dancer ensemble has inspired the dance scene with contemporary positions and classical repertoire at the highest level.

From August 2020, Bruno Heynderickx took over the artistic direction from Tim Plegge, who remains resident choreographer and will create at least one ballet production per season.

In addition to the rousing story telling ballets by Plegge, HSB commissions work by and collaborats with world-leading contemporary choreographers such as Bryan Arias, Edward Clug, Alexander Ekman, Sharon Eyal, Marco Goecke, Damien Jalet, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite and Hofesh Shechter.

The unique format of combining a firm choreographic signature with changing guest choreographers offers both the ensemble and the audience the unique opportunity to experience different forms and aesthetics of dance in a kaleidoscopic range.
In addition to its own productions, HSB is diversifying the offer of dance even further through its format “The Hessian State Ballet Invites”, which invites choreographers and companies from all over the world to Wiesbaden and Darmstadt each season.

In 2015, HSB co-initiated the Tanzplattform Rhein Main, a cooperation project with the Frankfurt based Künstlerhaus Mousonturm. In this unique merger between a state ballet with its two state theatres and an international production house, the two-week Rhein-Main dance festival is initiated every autumn.

The Hessian State Ballet has been invited to perform several times on national and international stages, including in Ludwigsburg, Innsbruck, Santander, Pamplona, Valladolid and Belgrade.

Artist residencies for up-and-coming choreographers and a broad spectrum of dance education formats round off the profile of the "Zweistädte-Firma" company, which, with its inter-institutional partnerships, aesthetic pluralism of styles and members from many countries lives dance as a lively network of relationships of artistic and societal expression.

Bruno Heynderickx
Ballet director

With his graduation from the Stedelijk Instituut voor Ballet, Antwerp in 1986, Bruno Heynderickx began an international career. He danced for some of the most famous dance companies in Europe: Scapino Ballet, Ballet du Nord, Euroballet, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, Rui Horta Stage Works and others with a repertoire from the classics to the most contemporary works. In addition, he created his own works at the side of Amanda Miller, Nils Christe, Ed Wubbe and Thierry Malandin. In 1998, Heynderickx met the Portuguese choreographer Rui Horta. He danced in many of his productions, became his artistic assistant and studied his works with other companies. At the same time he worked as a guest teacher for many European companies. In 2000, he supported Rui Horta in setting up the multidisciplinary art and residence center O Espaço do Tempo as person responsible for public relations as well as tour manager. Under the direction of Horta, Heynderickx was the coordinator of ECL COLINA, the major European interdisciplinary research project in collaboration with Dance City Newcastle, Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf, Kanuti Gildi Saal Tallinn, GRAN teater for Dans Aarhus, O Espaço do Tempo and Théâtre les Bernardines Marseille. In 2005, Heynderickx founded the international production agency CAMPAI vzw. for contemporary dance and theater based in Belgium. From 2008 to 2014 Heynderickx was Artistic Director of the contemporary Norwegian dance company Carte Blanche. He then became curator of Hessisches Staatsballett and, since the 2020/21 season, its ballet director.

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