Art Advisory Board
The ÖTR art advisory board: internationally renowned dancers, choreographers and teachers.
Mehmet Balkan
Dancer, Teacher
Davide Dato
Dancer
Béla Földi
Ballet Director and Choreographer
Raza Hammadi
Choreographer
Gyula Harangozó
Choreographer
Gabriele Haslinger
Ballet Teacher
Rainer Krenstetter
Principal Dancer and Ballet Teacher
Natalya Kusch
Prima Ballerina
Thoriso Magongwa
Dancer and Ballet Teacher
Andrea Némethová
Ballet Teacher
Lukáš Slavický
Dancer, Ballet Director
Iryna Tsymbal
Prima Ballerina
Brigitte Stadler
Ballet Mistress
Rasta Thomas
Dancer, Choreographer
Judith Turos-Kathol
Ballet Mistress
Doreen Windolf
Ballet Teacher
Mehmet Balkan
Dancer, Teacher
Born in Ankara, Turkey. He began his training at the age of 8 and graduated with distinction from the National Conservatory in Ankara. He received a scholarship to the Bolshoi Theatre School, where he worked with S. Messerer and A. Prokofiev, among others. At 18 he returned to the National Ballet of Ankara, where Dame Ninette de Valois was artistic advisor; on her suggestion he continued his studies at the Royal Ballet School in London. He then became a soloist with the National Ballet of Ankara.
Davide Dato
Dancer
Davide Dato was born in Biella in 1990 and graduated with distinction from the Ballet School of the Vienna State Opera. After further training at the School of American Ballet in New York, he joined the Vienna State Ballet in 2008, was promoted to soloist in 2013 and appointed principal dancer by Manuel Legris in 2016. He has performed leading roles in the classical and contemporary repertoire, appeared ten times in the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic, and is a guest principal at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the Arena di Verona, Teatro alla Scala and Teatro Colón.
Béla Földi
Ballet Director and Choreographer
Ballet director, choreographer, stage director and artistic director of the Budapest Dance Theatre. He founded his company in 1991; it is one of Hungary’s leading modern dance companies. The ensemble’s style is “European modern dance”, which combines a high level of classical ballet knowledge with contemporary elements of dance theatre and various modern techniques (Limón, Horton, Graham, Cunningham) into a harmonious fusion on stage.
Raza Hammadi
Choreographer
Born in Tunisia, Raza Hammadi began his training in 1976 at the school of Matt Mattox, quickly became his pedagogical assistant and was one of the first jazz dance teachers invited to Maurice Béjart’s school. In 1981 he took over the artistic direction of the Ballet Jazz Art de Paris. Since 1990 he has regularly created works for international companies, including the Budapest Opera, Ballet de l’Opéra de Göteborg, Ballet National de Tunisie, Carte Blanche (Norway) and Budapest Dance Theater. In 1995 he opened his own school in Paris.
Gyula Harangozó
Choreographer
Gyula Harangozó was known as a dancer in all the great opera houses of the world. After his dancing career he worked as director of the Hungarian National Ballet at the Hungarian State Opera and of the Ballet of the Vienna State Opera and Volksoper (now Vienna State Ballet). His choreographies are performed with great success in many countries. As artistic director of the Szeged Open-Air Festival he also achieved great success as an opera and musical director.
Gabriele Haslinger
Ballet Teacher
Born in Vienna in 1957, she began her training at the ballet school of the Vienna State Opera at the age of six, studying under Gerlinde Dill and Edeltraud Brexner, among others. In 1971 she was engaged by the Vienna State Opera Ballet while completing her school education with the Matura. In 1978 she became a dance partner of Rudolf Nureyev and shortly afterwards was appointed a principal dancer.
Rainer Krenstetter
Principal Dancer and Ballet Teacher
Rainer Krenstetter was born into a dance family in Vienna, where he began his ballet training at the ballet school of the Vienna State Opera. In 1999 he moved to the Royal Ballet School in London and continued his training there until 2000, when he became a member of the Vienna State Opera Ballet.
Natalya Kusch
Prima Ballerina
Natalya Kusch was born in Nikopol (Ukraine) and began her training at the Opera and Ballet Theatre in Dnipro. She moved to Austria to continue her studies at the Europaballett Academy. Her first engagement was with the Vienna State Opera Ballet; after her first leading role as Giselle, Manuel Legris appointed her a principal dancer. In 2013 she moved to Australia as a principal with Queensland Ballet.
Thoriso Magongwa
Dancer and Ballet Teacher
Thoriso Magongwa began his dance career at the Ballet Theatre Afrikan Academy and the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2000 he was a semifinalist at the Prix de Lausanne, where he received numerous offers from renowned European ballet schools. Today he is ballet master at the National Theatre Brno.
Andrea Némethová
Ballet Teacher
After studying at the Dance Conservatory in Bratislava, Andrea Némethová (Valabik) danced as a soloist in Prague and Tartu, then for six years with the Finnish National Ballet and 15 years at the Vienna State Opera, where she also taught class for the State Opera Ballet. She has taught summer courses in the Netherlands, Russia, Slovakia, the USA, Ecuador and Finland and is currently a guest teacher with the Slovak National Ballet.
Lukáš Slavický
Dancer, Ballet Director
Lukáš Slavický was born in Prague in 1980 and trained at the Prague Dance Conservatory (1991–1999). In 1998 he took on the guest role of Basil in “Don Quixote” at the National Theatre in Brno. Since the 2016/17 season he has been artistic director of the ballet of the South Bohemian Theatre, where numerous original productions have been created under his leadership.
Iryna Tsymbal
Prima Ballerina
Prima ballerina, first soloist with the Vienna State Ballet, guest teacher.
Brigitte Stadler
Ballet Mistress
Born in Vienna in 1965. Trained from 1976 at the Ballet School of the Austrian Federal Theatres with E. Brexner, and with Stanley Williams (New York) and Marika Besobrasova (Monte Carlo). In 1979 she became the youngest member of the Vienna State Opera Ballet; in 1983 came her breakthrough alongside R. Nureyev in “Swan Lake”, in 1984 she became a soloist and in 1990 first soloist. In 2001 she was responsible for staging “Giselle” at the State Opera.
Rasta Thomas
Dancer, Choreographer
Rasta Thomas, born in San Francisco, is considered one of the most versatile dancers of his generation. After an accident at the age of two, doctors predicted he would never walk again – a rigorous training programme proved them wrong. At just five he earned a black belt in karate, before his talent for ballet was discovered and he trained at the Kirov Academy in Washington DC under Oleg Vinogradov.
Judith Turos-Kathol
Ballet Mistress
Judith Turos, Bavarian Chamber Dancer, was prima ballerina of the Bavarian State Ballet for over two decades. Guest performances took her to the USA, China, Russia and across Europe. Her repertoire included all the major roles of classical, neoclassical and modern ballet. After her career she began working as a ballet mistress and coach.
Doreen Windolf
Ballet Teacher
Doreen Windolf trained at the State Ballet School Berlin and danced with the Leipzig Ballet and the Staatsballett Berlin, among others. Since 2014 she has been a ballet teacher at the State Ballet School Berlin, and since 2022 a lecturer at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Art. In 2021 she took over the interim leadership of the stage dance department. Her aim: to balance the performance demands of ballet training with the protection of health.