Paris Opéra Ballet Is Creating a Junior Company
News flash! Paris Opéra Ballet has announced that it is creating a junior company, and it’s happening quickly.
Led by director of dance José Martinez, the inaugural Paris Opéra Junior Ballet cohort will include 18 dancers—9 males and 9 females—ages 17 to 23. The paid contracts will be for two seasons, and they are open not just to current Paris Opéra Ballet School students but to dancers from all backgrounds and nationalities. Six additional dancers will join in 2025, making it a company of 24.
The Junior Ballet will alternate between intense training and performing with the main company in Paris and on tour. In the 2024–25 season, it will perform The Sleeping Beauty at the Opéra Bastille and on tour throughout France beginning in May 2025. The Junior Ballet repertoire will also include new contemporary works by both established and up-and-coming choreographers, and retired POB dancers will be invited to create on the dancers each year.
Dancers may register to audition for the Junior Ballet now through Sunday, June 9. Selected candidates will then go on to audition at the Palais Garnier, with classes held on Tuesday, July 2, for male-identifying dancers, and on Wednesday, July 3, for female-identifying dancers. For more information, head to the Junior Ballet announcement page on the POB website.
