Mthuthuzeli November

Mthuthuzeli November is an exciting choreographic voice of a new generation from South Africa. Mthuthuzeli only started dancing when he was fifteen through the outreach program, Dance For All. He won a gold medal in the South African Ballet Competition in 2014 and then danced with the Cape Dance Company for a year.In 2015, he committed as a dancer to Ballet Black in London, where he would also create his first ballet for the company a year later.

Since then, Mthuthuzeli has rapidly developed as a dance maker and already created work for Northern Ballet, Cape Dance Company, Glastonbury Festival, Zurich Ballet and in February 2024 premiered a new work for The Royal Ballet in London. In 2020 he won the Olivier Award for ‘Best Dance Production’ for his work Ingoma with Ballet Black.

Beginning with the 2024-'25 school year, Mthuthuzeli will be affiliated with the Dutch National Ballet Academy as an Associate. In this new position, he and the NBA will enter into an exciting and important bond and development with each other.

With a distinct voice of his own, a natural enthusiasm for influencing and enhancing classical dance with rhythms and other influences coming from Africa, and a fresh perspective on what storytelling can mean within ballet, Mthuthuzeli will create works for NBA students and pupils in the coming years.

At the same time, he will work with the NBA's teaching team to create educational paths and projects in which the convergence of different worlds plays a leading role.

By working with a choreographer who is currently in demand in many places around the world, the pupils and students of the NBA will have a unique opportunity to be in direct contact with and learn from – and with - this dancemaker who is currently pushing boundaries when it comes to the development and future of ballet in the world.

Share