An independent guide to contemporary ballet

Ballet, After the Break with Tradition

Since the 1980s, a generation of choreographers has pushed classical ballet technique into new territory - off-balance and deconstructed, fused with theatre and text, or rebuilt around collaboration with musicians, scientists, and martial artists. This is a guide to that world: the choreographers driving it, the companies that shaped it, and the works worth knowing.

Explore Choreographers New to Contemporary Ballet?

Nederlands Dans Theater, 1962. Photo: Joop van Bilsen / Anefo, CC0

Find Your Way In

Four ways to explore the artists and ideas reshaping ballet

Choreographers

Long-form profiles tracing style, signature works, and influence - from Forsythe's deconstructed vocabulary to Pite's dance theatre and Bausch's Tanztheater legacy.

Browse Choreographers

Featured: William Forsythe, Crystal Pite, Wayne McGregor, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Pina Bausch

Companies

The houses whose training methods and artistic identity defined contemporary ballet as its own genre, distinct from both classical repertory and experimental modern dance.

→ Nederlands Dans Theater → Batsheva Dance Company → Alonzo King LINES Ballet

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Works

Deep dives into landmark contemporary ballet works - their origins, what makes them distinct, and how they entered the repertory.

→ In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated → Betroffenheit

See all works →

Guides & History

Where contemporary ballet came from and how to watch it - from the Judson Church experiments of the 1960s to a first-timer's guide to what actually happens when the lights go down.

→ New to Contemporary Ballet? Start Here → Contemporary Ballet's Roots → A Timeline of Contemporary Ballet

Contemporary vs. classical: the glossary →

Start With Three Defining Figures

Three very different routes into contemporary ballet

William Forsythe, close-cropped grey hair, speaking

William Forsythe

Took classical ballet apart from the inside, and rebuilt it as something faster, off-center, and unmistakably contemporary.

Photo: Eric Bridiers, U.S. Mission Geneva, Public domain
Crystal Pite in profile, looking to the left

Crystal Pite

Builds large-ensemble dance theatre out of grief, memory, and the physics of the crowd.

Photo: Kat Baulu, CC BY 2.0
Pina Bausch in a cap and glasses, leaning on a window ledge and smiling

Pina Bausch

Invented Tanztheater and remains one of the most influential figures in the history of contemporary dance.

Photo: Fernando Suels, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photos via Wikimedia Commons - full credits and licenses are on the Image Credits page.

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