Nikolaj Hübbe
Artistic Director, Royal Danish Ballet

Nikolaj Hübbe was born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark. He began his dance training at age 10 with the Royal Danish Ballet School and became an apprentice with the Royal Danish Ballet in 1984, joining the corps de ballet in 1986. In 1986 Hübbe was awarded the Silver Medal in the Paris Ballet Competition, as well as the French Critics Prize. He won first prize in the 1987 Eurovision Ballet Competition and in 1988, he was promoted to the rank of principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet. Hübbe danced many of the works in the Royal Danish Ballet repertory, ranging from romantic leads in Romeo and Juliet and August Bournonville’s La Sylphide to the neo-classical works of George Balanchine, such as Apollo and Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux.

Hübbe joined New York City Ballet in July of 1992 as a principal dancer. He made his debut with the Company during their annual season at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York. His first performance was in Balanchine’s Donizetti Variations, a work that exhibits much of the clarity and purity associated with the Bournonville style, in which Hübbe was trained. In addition, he has performed leading roles in Balanchine’s Agon, Apollo, Bourrée Fantasque, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Concerto Barocco, Coppélia, Cortège Hongrois, Divertimento from “Le Baiser de la Fée,” Duo Concertant, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Rubies from Jewels, Liebslieder Walzer, Mozartiana, Scotch Symphony, La Sonnambula, La Source, Square Dance, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Sylvia Pas de Deux, Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3, Tzigane, Union Jack, Vienna Waltzes, Western Symphony, and Who Cares?; Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, Andantino, The Cage, The Four Seasons, Gershwin Concerto, I’m Old Fashioned, In the Night, Moves, Opus 19/The Dreamer, Other Dances, Suite of Dances, and West Side Story Suite; Peter Martins’ The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake; Robert La Fosse and Robert Garland’s Tributary; Sean Lavery’s Romeo and Juliet; and Richard Tanner’s A Schubert Sonata.

Hübbe originated principal roles in Robbins’ Brandenburg and Martins’ Adams Violin Concerto, Eros Piano, Jazz (Six Syncopated Movements), Quartet for Strings, Symphonic Dances, Todo Buenos Aires, and Zakouski, and the role of Friar Lawrence in his full length Romeo + Juliet. Hübbe has also work with choreographers David Allan, Stephen Baynes, Anna Laerkesen’s, Robert La Fosse, Kevin O’Day, and Twyla Tharp. For NYCB’s premiere of Robbins’ West Side Story Suite in spring 1995, Hübbe danced and sang the role of Riff.

In 2002, Hübbe appeared in the nationally televised Live From Lincoln Center broadcast “New York City Ballet’s Diamond Project: Ten Years of New Choreography” on PBS, dancing in Mr. Martins’ Jeu de Cartes and Them Twos, and in May of 2004 he appeared in the Live From Lincoln Center broadcast of “Lincoln Center Celebrates Balanchine 100,” dancing in Liebeslieder Walzer.

In addition to his performing career, Nikolaj Hübbe is a highly esteemed ballet teacher and ballet master. He is often invited to stage Bournonville ballets around the world. He studied acting with Laurie Kennedy and Sheila Gray, and at the HB Studio in New York. In the fall of 1998, Hübbe played the role of Puck in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Denmark with Gladsaxe Theatre.

During the season of 2007-2008, Nikolaj Hübbe worked in New York as well as in Copenhagen. As Head Ballet Master to the Royal Danish Ballet, he was “in apprenticeship” for the position as Artistic Director while still being active as principal dancer with the New York City Ballet where he gave his farewell performance on 10 February, 2008. On his return to Copenhagen, he performed in his very last role as James in La Sylphide with the Royal Danish Ballet at the company’s headquarters in Copenhagen on 2 April, same year. Nikolaj Hübbe is currently working as Artistic Director to the Royal Danish Ballet.