Rachel Beaujean

Biography

Rachel Beaujean has been working with Dutch National Ballet since Following her training at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, she joined the company as a dancer. She then danced in works by George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Martha Graham, Rudi van Dantzig, Toer van Schayk and Ted Brandsen, among others. As a dancer, Beaujean was known mainly for her interpretations of ballets by Hans van Manen, whose muse she was for many years. In 2003, Beaujean became head of the artistic staff, and has been associate artistic director of the company since In the same year, at the celebration of her fortieth anniversary with the company, she was made an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau.

As a ballet mistress, Beaujean still regularly rehearses Van Manen's ballets. For Dutch National Ballet, she created her own version of Les Sylphides and a renewed production of Giselle and of Paquita. In 2022, Beaujean created an entirely new version of Raymonda, a masterpiece by Marius Petipa.