Julian MacKay "leaves" Bayerische Staatsballett
Bayerische Staatsballett said on 13th July 2026 that Principal Dancer Julian MacKay would leave the company.
The Munich, Germany,-based company said in a short Instagram post;
"Julian MacKay and the Bayerisches Staatsballett are parting ways with immediate effect. The Principal Dancer is leaving the Munich company today, 13 July 2026.
"We would like to thank Mr. MacKay for the past three years and wish him all the best for the future."
The company did not explain the reason for his departure.
MacKay said in his post;
"After 4 years I was fired.
Shocked to find this out through instagram.
After raising concerns about what I felt was misconduct and unfair treatment in the ballet department I asked theatre manegment (sic) for this to be looked into or I would resign.
Instead this morning I was fired with immediate termination.
This is not ok to treat artists this way and I will not be silent about abuse in my industry.
I also think that it’s very telling that the comments on their announcement that they made this morning without my knowledge are turned off."
A few hours later, Bayerische Staatsballett updated the post to add the text below.
"Post update:
"We disabled the comments under this post to prevent the spread of false information, speculation and hate. Due to legal reasons, we are not able to provide further information or comment on this matter.
"What we can confirm is that Julian MacKay was informed in person this morning by the Direction about the decision and reasons to terminate his employment. This meeting took place before it was communicated publicly.
Thank you for your understanding."
American MacKay trained at many prestigious ballet schools including The Royal Ballet School in London, the UK, Academy Princess Grace in Monaco and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia. He then joined The Royal Ballet at age 17 as a 2016 Prix de Lausanne prize winner for a year.
Mackey then joined the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. He caught international media attention as he got stuck in Russia at the onset of the Covid-19 lackdowns in 2020.
San Francisco Ballet took him in as Principal in 2020-2022. He joined Bayerisches Staatsballett in the 2022-2023.
