Dutch National Ballet announces promotions, joiners, leavers, retirement

Dutch National Ballet announced promotions, joiners, leavers and retirement for the 2026--2027 season on 21st May 2026.

Joiners

Martin ten Kortenaar will return to Dutch National Ballet as Principal. The Dutch-Canadian dancer joined the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company in 2014 and was promoted to a Soloist of the company in 2019. He left the company to join Staatsballett Berlin in 2023, where he became a Principal in the following year.
Siphesihle November will join the company as a Soloist. The South African dancer is currently a Principal of the National Ballet of Canada.
Arianna Maldini will return as coryphée from a one-season stint at Norwegian National Ballet.
Estefanio Guajardo, Yuzuki Yamatini, Dylan Weinstein and Richmond Salvador: Second-year Junior Company
Isa Vreeman, Elisa Grassi, Ian Wolters and Michele Forghieri: First-year Junior Company
Jiyul Jeon and Tae Eun Kim: Junior Company Prix de Lausanne winners

Retirement

Principal Qian Liu will give her final performance in a gala in July. She will continue her career in ballet as a classical ballet teacher at the Dutch National Ballet Academy, which is a part of the Amsterdam University of the Arts.

Promotions

Bela Erlandson, Robin Park and Guillermo Torrijos: from corps de ballet to coryphée:
Ella Kolpakov, Alexander Álvarez Silvestre and Vincent Vivet: from élève to corps de ballet
Gabrielle Brett, Rosa Cabrera Nuesi, Annabelle Eubanks, Lea Sauvignon, Javier Becerra Cubero, Jenson Blight, John Murch and Darius Oriol Tamosi: from the Junior Company to élèves of Dutch National Ballet

Leavers