History of the Dutch National Baleet Academy
How two amateur ballet schools grew to become one of the leading international classical ballet academies
The history of the Dutch National Ballet Academy can be traced back to two exceptional women: Nel Roos and Hans Snoek. After World War II, they both made a contribution to the training of generations of young Dutch dancers that should not be underestimated, and which led to the development of the art of dance in the Netherlands.
During and after the war, Nel Roos (1914-1970) gave classes at the school of Yvonne Georgi. Although Georgi, who was German, was known mainly for choreographing ‘Ausdruckstanz’ works, she was one of the first in Amsterdam – originally together with Mascha ter Weeme and later in her own school at Koninginneweg – to give classical ballet classes at a high standard (for those days). When Georgi left the Netherlands in 1948, partly as a result of collaboration with the Germans, she handed over her school to Nel Roos.
Hans Snoek (1910-2001) founded Scapino Ballet in 1945, with the aim of bringing Dutch children into contact with dance. The dancers of Scapino gave classes at schools and – in order to earn a living – also elsewhere. It was not long before Hans Snoek, realising that a dance company cannot function without a continual supply of new dancers, provided the facilities for this, leading to the (official) foundation of the Scapino Dance School in 1951.
A world of difference
Both schools, Ballet Studio Nel Roos and the Scapino Dance School, were originally amateur schools, but by providing daily classes and setting up a selection class, they also functioned as professional academies – and supplied dancers to the Dutch companies. Nel Roos focused mainly on the Nederlands Ballet and later Dutch National Ballet, while the Scapino Dance School aimed to provide its pupils with broader prospects than just Scapino Ballet. These principles were also reflected in the schools’ training. At Nel Roos, according to ex-pupils, ballet technique was the top priority. “The approach was very strict and very rigid, with a lot of rules.” Whereas at Scapino, creativity and individual expression were considered at least as important as technique. “Everything there was freer and more personal.”
Those differences continued for a long time. Not only when the schools grew to become the Scapino Dance Academy (in 1959) and the Nel Roos Academy for Ballet (in 1968) – after a new Act provided more generous funding for professional dance academies – but also when both academies were absorbed into the Amsterdam Theatre Academy, in 1968. “It was a world of difference”, says Ine Rietstap, who directed the Scapino Dance Academy for a few years in the 1970’s.
Miracle
Nevertheless, both academies developed at more or less the same rate and in the same direction. “People copied the good things from one another.” They both fought successfully for an earlier start to the training, so that pupils could already be admitted from primary school group 5. At the end of the seventies, the two academies closely succeeded one another in entering into collaboration with the Montessori secondary school at Nieuwe Looiersstraat and later with the Zacharias Janssenschool for primary Montessori education at Weteringschans. And both academies gradually switched to teaching the Russian Vaganova technique – following various teacher training courses in this method.
According to those concerned, it is not easy to pinpoint precisely when the latter development too place, or others for that matter. “They were gradual processes”, says Rietstap, who calls it a miracle that the academies managed to do such good work, despite the lack of a dance tradition in the Netherlands and therefore a lack of qualified teachers and clear structure in the early years. “After all, both academies have produced generations of dancers and soloists, as well as two of the most important artistic directors of the Netherlands: Ed Wubbe and Ted Brandsen.”
New name
Despite their ‘cultural differences’, it was more or less inevitable that the two academies would merge, as they offered the same training, broadly speaking. In 1987, the directors of both academies resigned, including Maria Koning who had led the Nel Roos Academy for seventeen years, following the death of Nel Roos. Led by Erna Droog, the new merged Classical Ballet Academy was set up, which was renamed the Dutch National Ballet Academy in 1988.
At the time, the academy already collaborated with Dutch National Ballet, although not so intensively as nowadays. From 1980, principal dancers from the company gave classes at the Nel Roos and Scapino academies, pupils danced in the big, full-length productions by the company and in 1986 Dutch National Ballet appointed a coordinator to develop the collaboration with the academies. The position was taken by former principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet Francis Sinceretti, who later, from 1991 to 2001, was also the director of the Dutch National Ballet Academy. Everyone still praises him today for his exceptionally human and engaged leadership during that period.
From 1990, the choice of regular education for ballet pupils included the HAVO level, in addition to the MAVO level, and later also the VWO level. A collaboration was set up with the Gerrit van de Veen School, while primary school pupils went to the Olympia School, close to the studios of the preliminary course at Agamemnonstraat. The older pupils – from secondary school group 3 and up – moved in 1996 from the old studios at Kerkstraat to the new building of the Amsterdam Theatre School (now the Academy of Theatre and Dance) at Jodenbreestraat.
Preliminary course splits off
In 2001, at the instigation of the management of the Amsterdam Theatre School, the preliminary course was split off from the Dutch National Ballet Academy’s Bachelor’s courses. From then on, in the management’s opinion, the preliminary course should focus on a wider selection of dance subjects, in order to become a hotbed for all the dance courses at the Theatre School. This change of direction, however, did not turn out to be ideal. The broader selection of classes entailed watering down, and the quality of the classical ballet training was severely affected. Simon de Mowbray, artistic director from 2002 to 2007, and particularly his successor Vicki Summers (who had been head teacher on the preliminary course for six years prior to her appointment in 2007), therefore did their utmost to reverse the situation and get the preliminary course linked to the Bachelor’s courses again. And eventually they succeeded, partly because it was possible to draw on the Sirius programme for excellent education, developed in 2008 by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. They also strengthened the ties with Dutch National Ballet, finding an enthusiastic ally in Ted Brandsen, who had been appointed artistic director of the company in 2003. At the time, Summers and Brandsen even talked of founding a junior company; a plan that would indeed be realised in 2013.
Intensive collaboration with Dutch National Ballet
De Mowbray and Summers thus laid the foundations, as it were, for the further development and professionalisation of the Dutch National Ballet Academy, as it was to take shape under the leadership of the Englishman Christopher Powney and later Jean-Yves Esquerre (artistic director until 2018). Powney led the Dutch National Ballet Academy from 2010 to 2014. He involved Dutch National Ballet in the academy’s admissions policy, for example, and developed a joint teacher training course, which trains dancers and ex-dancers from the company to teach young ballet students. In 2013, Powney also managed to persuade master choreographer Hans van Manen to become the patron of the Dutch National Ballet Academy. At the same time, Ted Brandsen was appointed artistic adviser to the academy. In 2025 our patron Hans van Manen sadly passed away.
As mentioned above, 2013 was also the year of the foundation of Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company, which bridges the gap between training and a professional career. In the Junior Company, talented final-year students and recent graduates from the academy get the opportunity to prepare intensively for their future as a dancer within a big professional ballet company. In recent years, under the inspiring leadership of Ernst Meisner, the Junior Company has developed into an internationally sought-after ensemble and a productive hotbed for Dutch National Ballet. Today, may juniors have already moved up to the ‘adult’ company.
International standard
From 2014-2018, the Dutch National Ballet Academy was led by the Frenchman (and ex-NDT dancer) Jean-Yves Esquerre. During that period, Esquerre threw open the ‘doors and windows’ to students and pupils from abroad, whereby the school worked closely with other renowned international dance academies.
Intensive collaboration with the Junior Company
In September 2018, Ernst Meisner was appointed artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet Academy and René Vlemmix was appointed managing director (on 6 October 2025, Miriam Kolk was appointed interim managing director). As a choreographer and the artistic coordinator of Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company, Ernst Meisner combined those roles with his new position as artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet Academy. Under Ernst Meisner’s leadership, the Dutch National Ballet Academy intensified the collaboration with the Junior Company: the springboard for talented graduate dancers. The relationship between the two partners was continued and expanded. In 2024, Dario Elia was appointed associate artistic director and Mthuthuzeli November took up the post of Artistic Associate. From February 2026 Dario Elia is appointed as artisitc director.
New building
At the end of 2023, a long-cherished dream came true: the Dutch National Ballet Academy moved into a beautiful new building at Nicolaas Tetterodestraat, in the district of Amsterdam Overamstel. All the pupils and students came together under one roof. “Our new home”, said Ernst Meisner, “will become a place where ballet is celebrated in every possible way and where everyone is welcome. And it will be a place where we look to the future, try things out, dare to make mistakes and explore what’s needed to let ballet and ballet education flourish even more in the Netherlands and to offer even more people the opportunity to come into contact with ballet.”
Text: Astrid van Leeuwen
Translation: Susan Pond