ABOUT

Roger Van der Poel

Born in Portimão, Portugal, Roger Van der Poel is a Portuguese–Dutch dancer, educator, and stager with an extensive international career in contemporary dance.

Roger received his early dance training at the Dance School of the National Conservatory in Lisbon, where he studied for two years. In 2003, he joined Ballet Gulbenkian, performing works by renowned choreographers including Ohad Naharin, Marie Chouinard, Mauro Bigonzetti, Paulo Ribeiro, and Juan Carlos Garcia.

In 2004, he was invited by the late Artistic Director Philippe Cohen to join Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, where he remained for two seasons. In 2006, he joined Nederlands Dans Theater 2 (NDT 2) and, in August 2009, was promoted to Nederlands Dans Theater 1 (NDT 1). During his time with the company in The Hague, Roger performed works by many of the most influential choreographers in the contemporary repertoire, including Jiří Kylián, Sol León and Paul Lightfoot, Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, Hans van Manen, Mats Ek, Marco Goecke, Gabriela Carrizo, Franck Chartier, Johan Inger, Stijn Celis, Lukáš Timulak, Medhi Walerski, and Alexander Ekman, among many others. Over the course of his performing career, he toured to more than 40 countries and appeared on many of the world’s most prestigious stages.

Roger has also developed an active career as a stager and rehearsal director. He has restaged several works by Sol León and Paul Lightfoot—including Sleight of Hand, Silent Screen, Schmetterling, Stop-Motion, Shut-Eye, Subject to Change, Speak for Yourself, and Postscript—for companies such as Zurich Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Stuttgarter Ballett, Staatsballett Hannover, Nuremberg Staatsballett, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. He has also restaged Crystal Pite’s The Statement for Ballet BC and The Royal Ballet, and Kunstkamer by León & Lightfoot, Marco Goecke, and Crystal Pite for The Australian Ballet.

Alongside his performing career, Roger has been deeply involved in dance education. He has taught NDT repertoire at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and during NDT Open Studio events, and since 2011 has been a regular faculty member at the NDT Summer Intensive. He has also been invited to teach at dance institutions and studios throughout Europe, Asia, and Central and North America. Since 2022, he has been a guest faculty member at Orsolina28 Summer Intensives.

Roger has also maintained a long-standing collaboration with choreographer Peter Chu and the project-based American dance company CHUTHIS.. As a collaborating artist and guest faculty member for their educational programs—including CHUTHIS. Movement Intensive, CHUTHIS. Moves, and CHUTHIS. Perspectives—he works closely with Chu in multiple capacities. He performed in two world-premiere duets, Conscious Shift and take-off, which premiered at 92nd Street Y in New York City and were later presented at venues including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Perry-Mansfield, Almaty Theater, Munttheater, Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen, and Orsolina28’s Open Air Stage. More recently, he served on the faculty for Creating WAVES and the Peter Chu Intensive at Orsolina28 in Moncalvo, Italy, and was recently Chu’s choreographic assistant for Mozart-Requiem, a collaboration between Augsburg’s State Ballet, Opera, and Philharmonic.

Roger has received several awards and distinctions, including the 2007 Encouragement Award from Stichting Dansersfonds ’79 in Amsterdam, the Zwaan Award for “Most Impressive Dance Performance” in 2008 for his role in Hans van Manen’s Simple Things, and the audience award for Favorite Male Dancer at the World Star Ballet Gala in 2008.

In August 2020, Roger transitioned to working as a freelance artist, educator, and stager. Since then, he has collaborated with numerous artists and companies internationally. He performed in the “Gala for Ukraine” in Copenhagen alongside ballerina Olga Smirnova; appeared as a lead performer with the Belgian company Peeping Tom in Triptych: The Missing Door, The Lost Room, and The Hidden Floor, reprising the role he originally created at Nederlands Dans Theater; and premiered in SLEZA alongside ballerina Diana Vishneva. In 2023, he assisted Sol León on her creation Stars Like Moths for Staatsballett Berlin, and most recently joined Kammerballetten for its latest project in Sol León and Paul Lightfoot’s most recent full-evening creation, Stay Tuned.

Beyond his professional work in dance, Roger has a passion for singing, acting, traveling, languages, food, musicals, cinema, and spending time with friends and family.