Ballet Edmonton

Ballet Edmonton is a contemporary professional ballet company based in Edmonton, Alberta. We are a creation-based ensemble of company dancers under the leadership of Artistic Director Kirsten Wicklund. We commission original work each season from a variety of choreographic voices for our main stage performance series and touring. Our repertoire features new creations by nationally and internationally recognized and emerging choreographers with distinctive voices. Ballet Edmonton is committed to advancing the work of female and diverse creators to ensure our artistic product reflects the world in which we live. We contribute to the evolution of ballet in Canada through the presentation of innovative new work.

Ballet Edmonton has commissioned new creations by Canadian and international choreographers, including Gioconda Barbuto, Karissa Barry, Serge Bennathan, Josh Beamish, Ethan Colangelo, James Gregg, Shay Kuebler, Rachel Meyer, Andrea Peña, Diego Ramalho, Ihsan Rustem , Dorotea Saykaly, Wen Wei Wang and Kirsten Wicklund.

Kirsten Wicklund - Artistic Director

Kirsten Wicklund (she/her) was born in British Columbia, Canada. She has danced with The Washington Ballet Company, Ballet BC and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. Between 2014 - 2021, Kirsten worked exclusively for the creation-based company Ballet BC (Canada) under the direction of Emily Molnar, CM. During this time, she danced and created original works by Lesley Telford, Medhi Walerski, William Forsythe, Emmanuel Gat, Wen Wei Wang, Cayetano Soto, Adi Salant, Aszure Barton, Company 605, Johan Inger, Serge Bennathan, Jorma Elo, Jacopo Godani, Walter Mateini, Emily Molnar, Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal and others.

Since 2021, Kirsten has danced at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp, Belgium, where she performed existing works by Pina Bausch, Sharon Eyal, Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Akram Khan and original creations with Jan Martens, Richard Siegal & Ella Rothschild.

As an independent maker, Kirsten has choreographed works for Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, The Dutch National Ballet & Junior Company, The New York Choreographic Institute at New York City Ballet, Ballet BC’s “Take Form”, Ballet Kelowna, Joshua Beamish’s MOVE: the company and more. This is Kirsten’s inaugural season as Artistic Director with Ballet Edmonton.

Dorrie Deutschendorf - Lighting Designer

Dorrie Deutschendorf has been a Lighting Designer for over 20 years. She began her career in dance and moved through the disciplines as dancer, choreographer, teacher, Stage Manager and Theatre Technician. Her work on productions from both sides of the stage has allowed her to produce unique and supportive visions for over 30 dance artists and theatre directors in the Alberta arts community. Dorrie works as a lighting designer and production manager for BWDC (Brian Webb Dance Company), Usha Gupta Dance and Ballet Edmonton.