The Palast's ballet ensemble is unique. The 60 dancers are not only professional and versatile but also a feast for the eyes.
It presents show entertainment with an emphasis on dance. Show dance is a mixture of different styles (e.g. jazz, modern, tap, hip hop or contemporary, classical ballet). There is hardly a dance style which is not included and in the meantime, the dance ensemble even dares to take on artistic challenges. The basis for each choreography is, however, always formed from classical ballet.

The ballet ensemble impressed through the quality of skill and constantly uses new dance styles, working together with renowned, international choreographers in workshops.

Ballet director Alexandra Georgieva and the ballet masters Maik Damboldt, Catalin Tiganasu as well as Anudari Nyamsuren have all been professional dancers themselves for years and ensure consistently high quality. They address even the smallest mistakes which have been noticed in the previous evening’s show during the daily run-through following classical ballet training and have the positions rehearsed over and over. Alexandra Georgieva knows: “Those working here have to be completely dedicated and be called to this career. Only then can the top performance which we demand every day be reached. Expressiveness, discipline, precision and grace are demanded and fostered here. It’s pure extravagance.“
Finally, the performance takes place in the evening and dancing with a continually high level of passion and perfection is perhaps the biggest challenge. A Grand Show runs for two years with up to eight performances a week. It is these so-called long-running productions that make staging shows of the Palast’s size even possible. There is no other stage in the world where the dancers can perform as versatilely and as often and develop their dance talents in front of over half a million people a year.
The predominant team spirit is due to the special quality of the company. Essentially, solo stars are not singled out in the choreographies. There are some soloists but there is no hierarchy; the ballet company is the star. At Friedrichstraße 107, here are the longest legs and the most beautiful dancers but there isn’t any snobbery.

On the ensemble’s history

The Palast’s 100-year history began on 29 November 1919 with opening of Max Reinhardt’s Großes Schauspielhaus. During the National Socialist era, the theatre was known as the Theater des Volkes [Theatre of the People]; in 1947, it was then renamed the Friedrichstadt-Palast. At the time still located at Am Zirkus 1 on Schiffbauerdamm, the theatre witnessed the Weimar Republic, National Socialism, the German Democratic Republic, a relocation to Friedrichstraße 107 in 1984, and German reunification. After the Berlin Wall fell, the Palast succeeded in establishing itself as the #1 address in reunited Germany for elaborate and spectacular show entertainment. Offering a programme and dimensions that are unique, the grand tradition of Berlin show entertainment is continued at the Friedrichstadt-Palast in an ultramodern format. The scale is entirely unprecedented: the world’s largest ensuite shows are performed here on the world’s biggest theatre stage.

Alexandra Georgieva

Ballet director Alexandra Georgieva started her dance career at the age of six in her Bulgarian hometown of Plovdiv. When she was nine, she moved to the State Ballet and Choreography School in Sofia, where she graduated as a stage dancer in 1985. In 1990 she became a dancer at the Friedrichstadt-Palast, taking on her first solo part just six months later. She performed on stage for 23 years, 18 of which she spent dancing on the largest stage in the world. In spring 2008, she retired from dancing but remained committed to the Friedrichstadt-Palast and the world of dance. In summer 2008, Alexandra Georgieva became ballet director of the unique ballet ensemble based at Friedrichstraße 107. 

“Precision, expression and majestic performance – that is what I expect from our ballet company. I strive for perfection in order to offer our guests at the Grand Shows a fantastic bouquet of aesthetics, presence, fire and energy every night.”

Alexandra Georgieva