Ballet in Berlin

A Digital Chronicle

Ballet in Berlin has a rich and varied history – as multifaceted as the city itself. For the first time, this legacy is being brought to life in a digital chronicle on the Staatsballett Berlin website – a virtual stage for storytelling. Since the founding of the Royal Court Opera in 1742, Berlin has been home to centuries of dance, shaped by thousands of productions and an extraordinary range of influential figures – from Paul Taglioni and Tatjana Gsovsky to Maurice Béjart and Sharon Eyal; from the Kroll Opera to Berghain; from Satanella to Apropos Schéhérazade.

Staatsballett Berlin was established in 2004 through the unification of the ballet ensembles of Berlin’s three opera houses. As part of the Oper in Berlin Foundation, the company sees it as a core responsibility to preserve this cultural legacy and to make the ballet traditions of the Deutsche Oper, Komische Oper, and Staatsoper Unter den Linden visible and accessible to all.

The digital chronicle is an evolving project, with new premieres, personalities and moments from history added each week.
At the same time, it brings together material that has never before been compiled in one place for research purposes – content that will eventually feed into a database, linked with the work of public archives.

What’s already clear is that this isn’t about offering final answers. It’s about raising new questions – the beginning of a deeper cultural and historical exploration of Berlin’s unique ballet tradition.

An English-language version of the chronicle will be made available in due course. We kindly ask for your patience.

Explore our Chronicle

References

Information on the history of ballet in Berlin is widely scattered and informed by a range of academic perspectives. Without the insights and materials from other disciplines and contributors, our account would not have been possible.

See the references