Jeroen Verbruggen, oud-leerling van de Koninklijke Balletschool Antwerpen

Jeroen Verbruggen

Freelance choreographer

Jeroen Verbruggen, 1983, is a Belgian choreographer, based in France. He studied ballet at The Royal Belgian Ballet School in Antwerp and The National Ballet School of Canada in Toronto. 

He successfully participated at the Prix de Lausanne (2000). His first choreographed solo 'Hyperballad' won at the Eurovision contest for young dancers in London (2001). 

Jeroen danced with The Royal Ballet of Flanders and the Ballet d’Europe. He joined Les Ballets de Monte Carlo in 2004, for whom he danced for 10 years. 

In his dance career, Jeroen experienced the chance to create and dance major roles both classical as well as contemporary, significant encounters with maestro choreographers, such as Jean Christophe Maillot, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Marco Goecke, Jan Fabre, George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian and Emio Greco. 

Parallel to his dancing, Jeroen always choreographed. He took every possible opportunity to participate in young choreographer & young scenographer projects, such as the Belgian National Television 'Vervlogen' (2001), the Monaco Dance Forum 'Jack(L)in the Box' (2011) and multiple smaller projects  for the Princess Grace Academy of Dance.

In 2012, he was given his first big chance by Jean Christophe Maillot, creating 'Kill Bambi' for Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. The production was broadcasted live all over Europe on Arte web live. Since then, Jeroen has choreographed many works for the Monegasque company. As a young choreographer in residence, he could explore and grow while creating. During that period he choreographed Arithmophobia (2013), True and False Unicorn (2015), L’Enfant et Les Sortilèges (2016), Massâcre (2017) - which will be revived in Geneva in May 2021 -, and Aimai-je un Rêve (2018). 

In 2014, Jeroen decided to end his career as a dancer and devote all his energy to creating. This was partly initiated by the opportunity  to create his first full length story ballet 'Casse-Noisette' for the Ballet du Grand théâtre de Genève. To date, the ballet is still part of the companies’ touring repertory. 

Jeroen Verbruggen is versatile in his work, he choreographs for both classical and contemporary companies: 'A Mighty Wind' for National Dance Company Wales (summer, 2015) which even toured to 'Sziget' Hungarian Music Festival, 'Pointless' for Ballet National de Marseille (november, 2016), 'Ma Mère L’Oye' for Ballet Flanders (may, 2016) also broadcasted worldwide. 'Orphic Hymn' an evening filling Triptych Ballet for the National Slovenian Ballet (November 2017). 'Sciamachy' for the Finnish National Ballet (May 2019), followed by a new energetic, full length dance marathon entitled 'Dance Hall' for Theatre Ballet Moscow (june 2019). 

In Germany he created: 'Where have all the Flowers gone' for Ballet Nuremberg (June 2016), 'The Great Trust' for the Hessisches staats ballett, premiered in Darmstadt (April, 2018). An experimental full-length 360° ballet performance 'Open (S)pace' for Ballet im Revier, Gelsenkrichen (May 2018).'Minutemade' participation of Theater Gartnerplatz, Munich (July, 2019). 'Dornröschen, Once upon a Dream' for Leipziger Ballett, Germany (November, 2019).

Magazines and critics have praised Jeroen’s work over the past 5 years, as an engaging young choreographer on all levels and is in high demand across Europe.

Jeroen’s work is an all-in-all visual trip, where high fashion meets circus meets virtuose piano meets electronic laughter. He owes his successes to his inspiring collaborators. 

Always follow your heart while making choices.

Dear KBA-dancer

Always follow your heart while making choices. Take every seemingly small chance that crosses your path, because they will grow into bigger ones. Have faith and be patient. Dreams do come true!