Julie Thirault

Julie Thirault, born in France, got trained at the École de danse der L’Opéra national de Paris under Claude Bessy. During her ballet education she already performed at the opera houses of Paris. After a guest contract with Théâtre de Bordeaux, she joined Semperoper Ballett Dresden, where she was seen in numerous solo roles. As a guest she danced with the ballet company of Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. In 2002 she became a member of ballettmainz and followed Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer Martin Schläpfer to Ballett am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg in 2009. Next to many world premieres, in which Martin Schläpfer has created leading parts for Julie Thirault, she was seen in pieces from George Balanchine, August Bournonville, Christopher Bruce, Nils Christe, John Cranko, Mats Ek, Kurt Jooss, Jiří Kylián, Sol León & Paul Lightfoot, José Limón, Hans van Manen, John Neumeier, Jerome Robbins, Uwe Scholz and Anthony Tudor. In 2011 the magazine Theater pur nominated her as »Best dancer«.

In summer 2018 Julia Thirault finished her active career as a dancer and started studying choreology with the focus on Benesh Notation at the Royal Ballet School London. Today she is working as a ballet mistress – until 2020 at Ballett am Rhein and since season 2020/21 at the Vienna State Ballet, where she is also responsible for restaging works by Martin Schläpfer and as rehearsal director for choreographies by George Balanchine, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Hans van Manen, Pierre Lacotte, Mark Morris, John Neumeier, Rudolf Nureyev, Alexei Ratmansky, Jerome Robbins, Heinz Spoerli and Christopher Wheeldon.