Douglas Lee (born 1977 in London, England) is a British

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

. A former

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be male or female. The position is similar to that of '' soloist''; however, p ...

with the

Stuttgart Ballet Stuttgart Ballet is a leading German ballet company. Dating back to 1609, then the court ballet of the dukes of Württemberg, the modern company was founded by John Cranko and is known for full-length narrative ballets. The company received the L ...

, his ballets have been premiered by Stuttgart Ballet,

Norwegian National Ballet The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet ( no, Den Norske Opera & Ballett, links=no) is a Norwegian opera company and ballet company. The first fully professional company each for opera and ballet in Norway and the only such professional organisati ...

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

Netherlands Dance Theatre Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT; literal translation Netherlands Dance Theatre) is a Dutch contemporary dance company. NDT is headquartered at the ''Amare'' building in The Hague. NDT also performs at other venues in the Netherlands, including Amste ...

, and several other European ballet companies.

Life and career

Born in London, Douglas Lee started his ballet training at the

Arts Educational Schools, London Arts Educational Schools, or ArtsEd, is an independent performing arts school based in Chiswick in the London Borough of Hounslow. Overview ArtsEd provides specialist vocational training at secondary, further and higher education level in musi ...

and then received a scholarship for the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

, where he graduated in 1996, winning the

Alicia Markova Dame Alicia Markova DBE (1 December 1910 – 2 December 2004) was a British ballerina and a choreographer, director and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted for her career with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and touring international ...

Award. Douglas Lee then joined The Stuttgart Ballet, his promotion to

Principal Dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be male or female. The position is similar to that of '' soloist''; however, p ...

followed in 2002. As a principal dancer, Lee danced many roles for choreographers such as

John Cranko John Cyril Cranko (15 August 1927 – 26 June 1973) was a South African ballet dancer and choreographer with the Royal Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet. Life and career Early life Cranko was born in Rustenburg in the former province of Tran ...

Jiri Kylian Jiri ( ne, जिरी) is a municipality in Dolakha District in the Bagmati Province of central Nepal. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census it had a population of 13,638 people.. Jiri, which lies about 190 kilometers from Kathmandu, is the ma ...

John Neumeier John Neumeier (born February 24, 1939) is an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. He has been the director and chief choreographer of Hamburg Ballet since 1973. Five years later he founded the Hamburg Ballet School, which also inc ...

Hans Van Manen Hans Arthur Gerard van Manen (; born 11 July 1932) is a Dutch ballet dancer, choreographer and photographer. He studied under Sonia Gaskell and Françoise Adret. Van Manen wrote many ballets. He worked for the Dutch National Ballet from 1973 to ...

Glen Tetley Glen Tetley (February 3, 1926 – January 26, 2007) was an American ballet and modern dancer as well as a choreographer who mixed ballet and modern dance to create a new way of looking at dance, and is best known for his piece ''Pierrot Lunaire ...

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

and William Forsythe. Douglas Lee made his choreographic debut in February 1999 for the Stuttgart-based Noverre Society's 'Young Choreographers', after which he was commissioned to create a new work for the Stuttgart Ballet. He also participated twice at the New York Choreographic Institute to work with dancers of The New York City Ballet. With ''Aubade'' and ''Lachrymal'', Lee presented his first works for the Stuttgart Opera House, new creations for the Stuttgart Ballet also included ''Viewing Room'', ''Dummy Run'' and ''Leviathan''. His tenth work for the Stuttgart Ballet, ''Miniatures'' set to the music of Dutch composer

Simeon ten Holt Simeon ten Holt (24 January 1923 – 25 November 2012) was a Dutch contemporary classical composer. Ten Holt was born in Bergen, North Holland, and studied with Jakob van Domselaer, eventually developing a highly personal style of minimal ...

premiered in March 2011. Following his choreographic success in Stuttgart, he became a freelance choreographer working internationally. Lee's creation ''Fanfare LX'' for the Stuttgart Ballet was taken into the repertoire of the

Staatsballett Berlin The Berlin State Ballet (german: Staatsballett Berlin, links=no, italic=no) is the principal ballet company in the German capital of Berlin. It was created in 2004 through a merger of the separate ballet companies of the city's three opera houses ...

. He created ''Fractured Wake'' and returned to create ''5 for Silver'' for the

, ''Rubicon Play'' for the

Royal Ballet of Flanders The Royal Ballet of Flanders is a dance company based in Antwerp, Belgium, specializing in classical, neoclassical and contemporary ballet. In its current incarnation, the company was established in 1969. It tours internationally. History The ...

and ''Lifecasting'' set to the music of

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

for the New York City Ballet, which was shortlisted in

Time Out NY ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...

as one of the outstanding dance works of 2009 and taken into the Stuttgart Ballet repertoire. As well as returning to the Stuttgart Ballet to create ''Aria'' and ''Arcadia'' he has created pieces for

Tulsa Ballet Tulsa Ballet is a professional American ballet company located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The artistic mission of Tulsa Ballet is "To preserve the tradition of classical ballet, promote the appreciation of contemporary dance, create works of superior and ...

, Ballett Augsburg, Ballett Mainz,

Ballet de l'Opéra national du Rhin Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, Yacobson Ballet, Croatian National Theater Rijeka,

Atlanta Ballet Atlanta Ballet is a ballet company, located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the longest continuously performing ballet company in the United States and the State Ballet of Georgia. History Atlanta Ballet was founded in 1929 by Dorothy Alexander as ...

and the

Greek National Ballet Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. His work is often celebrated for its dark, minimalist beauty. In 2016 Lee's creation ''Snow Was Falling'' for

Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre The Perm Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre is an opera and ballet theatre in the city of Perm in Russia. It is one of the oldest theatres in the country, and it has remained a major musical centre during its history, in which many significant a ...

set to the music of

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...

received the

Golden Mask Award The Golden Mask (russian: Золотая Маска, ''zolotaya maska'') is a Russian theatre festival and the National Theatre Award established in 1994 by the Theatre Union of Russia. The award is given to productions in all genres of theatre ar ...

for best choreographer. He also created ''Legion'' for Netherlands Dance Theatre 2, ''Earthlings'' for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal and three new works for

Ballett Zürich Ballett Zürich, formerly known as Zürich Ballet, is the largest professional ballet company in Switzerland. Its principal venue is the Zürich Opera House and it regularly tours across the country. The company includes an ensemble cast of 36 d ...

which included a newly commissioned score for ''Lady with a Fan'' by New York-based composer Michael Gordon. Recent creations include a new ''Petrushka'' with the music of

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

for Ballett Nürnberg, ''Naiad'' for the Stuttgart Ballet, ''Puppet'' for Czech National Ballet with a score by

Third Coast Percussion Third Coast Percussion is a Grammy Award-winning American percussion ensemble, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The group, composed of Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore, specializes in new music/contemporar ...

, his third creation for Ballett Dortmund ''Maquette'' and the critically acclaimed ''Playdead'' for Ballett Theater Nordhausen.

Choreographic work

* 2022 Playdead, Ballett Theater Nordhausen * 2022 Maquette, Ballett Dormund * 2021 Puppet, Czech National Ballet * 2021 Sonata Pathétique, Croatian National Theater Rijeka * 2020 Naiad, Stuttgart Ballet * 2019 Petrushka, Ballett Nürnburg * 2019 Earthlings, Les Grands Ballets de Montréal * 2019 She Wore Red, Ballett Dortmund * 2018 Firebird, Yacobson Ballet St. Petersburg * 2017 Lady With A Fan, Ballett Zürich * 2017 Fortress, Greek National Orchestra Ballet Athens * 2016 Playground, Atlanta Ballet * 2015 Snow Was Falling, Perm Ballet * 2015 Ophelia, Ballet de l'Opéra national du Rhin * 2014 The Fade, Ballett Mainz * 2014 Doll Songs, Ballett Nürnberg * 2014 A-Life, Ballett Zürich * 2013 PianoPiece, Ballett Dortmund * 2012 Septet, Tulsa Ballet * 2012 Legion, Netherlands Dance Theatre II * 2012 Iris, Ballett Zürich * 2012 Chimera, Ballett Augsburg * 2012 Aria, Stuttgart Ballet * 2011 Souvenir, Perm Opera Ballet Theatre * 2011 Miniatures, Stuttgart Ballet * 2011 5 For Silver, Norwegian National Ballet * 2010 Nightlight, Stuttgart Ballet * 2009 Lifecasting, New York City Ballet * 2009 Fanfare LX, Stuttgart Ballet * 2008 Leviathan, Stuttgart Ballet * 2007 Dummy Run, Stuttgart Ballet * 2006 Viewing Room, Stuttgart Ballet * 2006 Rubicon Play, Royal Ballet of Flanders * 2005 Fractured Wake, Norwegian National Ballet * 2004 Lachrymal, Stuttgart Ballet * 2003 Aubade, Stuttgart Ballet

References

External links

Douglas Lee Choreography official website

Douglas Lee's Youtube channel

New York Choreographic Institute

Staatstheater Augsburg

Staatstheater Mainz

Theater Nordhausen TN-LOS!
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Douglas British choreographers British male ballet dancers 1977 births Living people Stuttgart Ballet