Kirsten Wicklund
Kirsten Wicklund was born in Vancouver, Canada, where she started her dance training with Pacific DanceArts and continued with the Goh Ballet Academy and the Modus Operandi Contemporary Training Program. She also received scholarships to train with American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts.
In 2014, Wicklund joined Ballet BC in Vancouver, which was led at the time by Emily Molnar, the current artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theater. With Ballet BC, Wicklund danced in works by Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal, Jacopo Godani, Medhi Walerski, Johan Inger, Emmanuel Gat, Emily Molnar and Lesley Telford. In 2021, she moved to Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, where to date she has performed in Giselle by Akram Khan, Le sacre du printemps by Pina Bausch and Noetic by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
Wicklund is also active as a choreographer. She has previously created works for several choreographic workshops, festivals and companies, including Goh Ballet, the Dancing on the Edge Festival and Ballet BC’s Choreographic Lab. She was invited by the New York Choreographic Institute to take part in their development programme for young talented choreographers in 2023.
Wicklund has received various prizes, including the Vancouver Foundation Arts Study Award, the Vancouver Ballet Society’s Memorial Scholarship and the Mary Day Artistry Award from the Youth American Grand Prix, in New York.
- Season 2023-2024
In 2024, Wicklund will create a new work for Ten, the touring programme of Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company, to celebrate its tenth anniversary.