Bridget Breiner was born in Connecticut, USA, and raised in Columbus, Ohio, where she received her early dance training at the BalletMet Dance Academy. She completed her training at the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung in Munich and subsequently joined the Bavarian State Ballet in 1992 under the direction of Konstanze Vernon, who promoted her to Demi-Soloist. In 1996 she joined the Stuttgart Ballet under the direction of Reid Anderson and quickly became one of the company's most celebrated dancers, being promoted to Soloist in 1997 and Principal in 2001. From 2006 to 2008 she danced with the Semper Oper Ballet in Dresden under the direction of Aaron Watkin. Currently she is a regular guest artist with the Stuttgart Ballet and makes frequent appearances with other German ballet companies.
Her repertoire includes the great dramatic heroines, most especially Juliet in John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet, Tatiana in Cranko's Onegin, Odette/Odile in Cranko's Swan Lake, the Diva in Cranko's Poéme de l'Extase, Giselle in Paul Chalmer's Giselle, as well as Marguerite Gautier in John Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias and Blanche DuBois in Neumeier's A Street Car Named Desire. Her extensive neo-classical repertoire includes George Balanchine's Apollo (Terpsichore), Violin Concerto, Concerto Barocco, andSymphony in C, as well as the Novice in Jerome Robbins's The Cage, the Ballerina in Robbins's The Concert, and the Dancer in Mauve in Robbins's Dances at a Gathering. Working directly together with Glen Tetley, she added Columbine in his Pierrot Lunaireand the female leads in his Le Sacre du Printemps and Voluntaries to her many roles.
Ms. Breiner's versatility also brought her leading roles in William Forsythe's Herman Schmerman, Approximate Sonata, In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, The Second Detail, and Love Songs as well as in Hans van Manen's Twilight, Kleines Requiem, Große Fuge, and Five Tangos. Her repertoire of works by Jiří Kylián includes Nuages, Forgotten Land, Sinfonietta, Svadebka and Return to a Strange Land, and she has had the privilege to work personally with both choreographers.
In addition, Ms. Breiner has inspired a wide range of today's leading European choreographers, most especially Christian Spuck and Douglas Lee, both home-grown choreographers of the Stuttgart Ballet. Spuck created for her the role of the Countess Geschwitz in his Lulu. Eine Monstretragödie, the role of Marguerite du Valois in his ..., la peau blanche..., the role of the Mother in The Sandman, as well as roles in six other of his pieces. Lee created the ballet Cindys Gift for her, as well as roles in three other of his ballets. Most recently Kevin O'Day created the role of Gertrude for her in his full-legth production of Hamlet; he also created roles for her in his Delta Inserts anddreamdeepdown. In addition, the choreographers Mauro Bigonzetti, David Dawson, Dominique Dumas, Nicolo Fonte, Jean Grand-Maître, Ivan Cavallari, Marc Spradling and Pascal Touzeau – among others – created solo roles for her.
Choreography
In 2005 Ms. Breiner made her choreographic debut in the prestigious "Young Choreographers" evening of the Stuttgart-based Noverre Society. In 2006 and 2007 she was invited to create two more works for the Noverre Society; her work Sirs was so successful that it was immediately taken into the repertoire of the Stuttgart Ballet.
In 2007 she choreographed Zeitsprünge, a site-specific piece in the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, using 32 students from the John Cranko School. The piece utilised most of the exhibition space and was highly praised by local dance and art critics. In 2008 she choreographed Adagio Assai for the Ballet de Santiago in Chile for herself and Friedemann Vogel. She has also created the choreography for the musical parody Der Prinz von Dänemark, which was commissioned by the State Theatre Company of Stuttgart. The production starred Harald Schmidt, one of Germany's most celebrated television personalities. In January 2009 she created Hold Lightly to Ludwig van Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto for the Kevin O'Day-Ballet Mannheim. In March 2009 she choreographed the pas de deux La Grande Parade du Funk to music by Chris Brubeck for the Stuttgart Ballet couple competing in the Erik Bruhn Competition in Toronto. Most recently she has created and performed her solo Au'leen for an enthusiastic audience at the premiere gala of "Ballet for Cologne", January 2010. Since 2012 she has been working as ballet director at Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen.
Artist's homepage: www.bridgetbreiner.com