The Royal Danish Ballet

The Royal Danish Ballet, founded in 1748, is among the oldest ballet companies in the world and the sole custodian of the Bournonville tradition — the buoyant, light-footed nineteenth-century style of the choreographer August Bournonville, whose "La Sylphide" and "Napoli" survive almost nowhere else. Resident at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, the company maintains the Bournonville School as a living technique, taught daily and passed from generation to generation, alongside a repertoire that embraces the international classics and contemporary creation. Its distinctive style — understated, musical and joyous — makes the Royal Danish Ballet a unique link to ballet’s romantic age and a treasured part of Danish cultural identity.