Bart de Block is a professional Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 ballet dancer known for his exceptional ability to perform pointework

En pointe

En pointe means "on the tip" and is a part of classical ballet technique, usually practised using specially reinforced shoes called pointe shoes or toe shoes. The technique developed from the desire for dancers to appear weightless and sylph-like and has evolved to enable dancers to dance on the...

. He is also a ballet teacher (pointwork, pas-de-deux), choreographer and balletmaster.

Personal life

Bart de Block was born on 22 October 1968 in Gent, Belgium. His mother was a nursing supervisor and his father a schoolmaster. Both his brother and sister are now engineers.

Noticing a strong ability to move to music, his mother encouraged him to take dance lessons locally at age 9. His teacher suggested his prodigious ability could be improved in Antwerp at the Academy of Royal Ballet of Flanders, which he joined at 11. He would later leave it at age 18, having pursued an advanced ballet course including three years of Graham

Martha Graham

Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...

 technique, classical dance, and, of course, regular academic courses. He won several medals in Lausanne, Jackson Mississippi, Houlgate and earned a High school diploma from the Stedelijk Institute in Antwerp (now known as Royal Balletschool of Antwerp).

Career

1986-1987

Royal Ballet of Flanders, Antwerp, Belgium

as a member of the "corps de ballet"

1987-1995

Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berlin, Germany

as the principal dancer, working with, most notably: Maurice Béjart, Marc Bogaerts

Marc Bogaerts

Marc Bogaerts is a Belgian choreographer and artistic director. He has worked internationally for over more than 50 dance, opera and circus companies....

, Valery Panov

Valery Panov

-Early career :Valery Panov was born in 1938 in Vitebsk, Belarus. He studied in the choreographic school named for Agripinna Vaganova in Saint Petersburg. Today it’s The Academy of Russian Ballet...

, Sir Kenneth McMillan, John Neumeier

John Neumeier

John Neumeier is a well-known American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. He has been the director and chief choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet since 1973. 5 years later he founded the Hamburg Ballet School, which also includes a boarding school...

, Peter Schaufuss, Karole Armitage

Karole Armitage

Karole Armitage is an American dancer and choreographer currently based in New York City. She is Artistic Director of Armitage Gone! Dance, a contemporary ballet company that performs several times annually in New York City as well as touring internationally...

, Bill T. Jones

Bill T. Jones

Bill T. Jones is an American artistic director, choreographer and dancer.-Early life:Jones was born in Bunnell, Florida and his family moved North as part of the Great Migration in the first half of the twentieth century. They settled in Wayland, New York, where Jones attended Wayland High School...

, Moses Pendleton

Moses Pendleton

Moses Pendleton is a choreographer, dancer and the artistic director of MOMIX. MOMIX is a dance company that he formed in 1981 as an offshoot of the ground-breaking Pilobolus, which he had co-founded while a senior at Dartmouth College in 1971. He remained a full-time member with the company...

, Stephen Petronio, Nacho Duato, Christopher Bruce, Lucinda Childs

- guest with the Kirov ballet, St-Petersburg, dancing Albrecht in Giselle

1995-1997

Ballet Trockadero, New-York, USA

as the principal dancer

1997-1999

Mark Baldwin Dance Company, London, England

as the principal dancer but also as the director's assistant

1999-2001

Royal Ballet of Flanders, Antwerp, Belgium

as the principal dancer and also as an administration member

2002-2003

Jeugd & Dans Company, Antwerp, Belgium

as the artistic coordinator

2003-2007

Les Ballets Gradiva, New York, USA

as a guest

Principal roles

- Agon - (Balanchine) in the First pas de deux

- Cinderella - (Valery Panov) as the Prince

- Cruel Garden - (Christopher Bruce) as Negro

- Duende - (Nacho Duato) in the Principal role

- Different Drummer - (Sir K.MacMillan) as Jesus

- Einhorn - (John Neuemeier) in the title role

- Flowerfestival - (A.Bournonville) in the pas de deux

- Firebird - (M.Bejart) in the title role

- Five Tangos - (Hans Van Manen) in the Principal role

- Folk Tale - (P.Schaufuss) in the Title role

- Four Temperaments - (G.Balanchine) as the Phlegmatic

- Galaperformance - (A. Tudor) as one of the French couple

- Giselle - (P.Schaufuss) as Albrecht

- La Fille mal Gardee - in the Principale role

- La Valse - (G.Balanchine) as the soloist

- Land - (C.Bruce) in the Principal role

- Laytext - (S.Petronio) in the Principal role

- Le Corsaire - performing a mixed Pas de deux

- Leaves are fading - (A. Tudor) in the Principal role

- Le Sacre du Printemps - (M.Bejart) as the young warrior

- Les Intermittences du Coeur - (R. Petit) as a Young Proust and Morel

- Liebestod - (V.Panov) in the Title role

- Moves - (V.Panov) as Michael Jackson

- Notre Dame de Paris - (R.Petit) as Frollo

- Onegin - (J.Cranko) as Lenski

- Percussion for six men - (V.Nebrada) in the Bongo variation

- Paquita - (Vinogradov) in the Principal role

- Petruschka - (M.Fokine) in the Title role

- Petruschka - (H.Mandafounis) in the Title role

- Ring um den Ring - (M.Bejart) as Loge

- Romeo and Juliet - (V.Panov) as Mercutio

- Sleeping Beauty - (P.Schaufuss) as Carabosse

- Swanlake - (K.MacMillan) as a Neapolitan

- Swanlake - (P.Schaufuss) as Rothbart

- Swansong - (C.Bruce) in the Principal role

- Symphony in C - (G.Balanchine) in the First & Third

- Tannhauser - (V.Panov) in the Pas de deux

- The dog is us - (K.Armitage) in the Principal role

- The Dream is over - (C.Bruce) as John Lennon

- The Idiot - (V.Panov) as Ganja

- Theme and Variations - (G.Balanchine) in the Principal role

- The Opening - (B.T.Jones) in the Principal role

- Tschaikowsky pas de deux - (G.Balanchine)

- Tutuguri - (Moses Pendleton) in the Title role

- Who Cares! - (G.Balanchine) in the Principal role

- The Legend of Joseph - (Mark Baldwin) in the Principal role

- Tango Fiesta - (Maurizio Weinrot) in the Principal role

- The Nutcracker - (A. Prokovsky) as the Prince

- The Emperor’s Dream - (Mark Bogaerts) as The Emperor

- Carmina Burana - (Maurizio Weinrot) in the Principal role

Roles "en pointe"

Ballet repertoire in point shoes

• M-Piece - (Mark Baldwin) - Solo
• Song of a Nightingale - (Mark Baldwin) in the title role
• The Demon - (Mark Baldwin) in the title role
• Sleeping Beauty - (Peter Schaufuss) as Carabosse
• The Dog is us - (Karole Armitage) in the principal role
• Swan Lake - (After Petipa) as Odette
• Swan Lake - (After Petipa) as Odile
• Grand pas Classique - (Victor Gsovsky
  Victor Gsovsky
  Victor Gsovsky was a ballet dancer and choreographer.Victor Gsovsky was born in Petersburg, the Russian empire.His teacher on ballet was a Mariinsky Theatre’s prima ballerina Evgenia Sokolova....
  
  )
• Paquita - (E.Kunikova after Petipa) in the principal role
• Stars and Stripes - (Robert Lafosse) in the principal role
• Star Spangled Ballerina - (Marcus Galante) in the principal role
• Nutcracker - (V.Trevino after Petipa) as the Sugar Plum fairy
• Near the Middle - (V.Trevino after Forsythe) in the principal role
• Satanella - (M.Petipa) pas de deux