Kontakt: Leon Kjellsson Pomonaring 31 D-22926 Ahrensburg Mobil: +49 (0)171 81 83 881 E-Mail: leon@kjellsson.net Impressum
was born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark. He received his first dance training at the “LLK Dans” School in Copenhagen, directed by his parents who were professional ballet and dance teachers. He went on to accomplish his ballet education at Birger Bartholin´s “International Ballet Seminar” and at the “Royal Danish Ballet”. He was trained by great teachers like Vera Volkova, Toni Lander, Kirsten Simone, Henning Kronstam, Palle Jacobsen, Flemming Ryberg and Birger Bartholin. After dancing for two years with the “Royal Theatre Copenhagen” he joined the “Bavarian State Ballet Company” in 1975 where he had the privilege to work with choreographers like John Neumeier, Jiri Kilian, Sir Peter Wright, Hans van Manen, Ronald Hynd, Jean-Pierre Bonnefous, Grey Veredon, Lar Lubowich, Norbert Vesak, Erich Walter, Johann Kresnik and Youri Vàmos. He performed also in pieces of George Balanchine, August Bournonville, John Cranko, Michail Fokine, Glen Tetley and many others. While dancing with the company, Leon has also been teaching ballet classes at the “Iwanson Dance Center” in Munich where he progressed to a principal pedagogue for classical ballet. In 1986 he decided to leave Munich and take up new responsibilities as Ballet Master and Assistant Director of the “Ballett Dortmund ” under Youri Vàmos’ direction. In addition to his new position, Leon founded the ballet school of the Dortmund Theatre. In 1988, Leon moved with Youri Vamos and his Ballerina Joyce Cuoco to the “Bonn Ballet”, Germany, and later in 1991 to the “Basel Ballet”, Switzerland, where he directed the ballet school as well. From 1996 to 2009 the team ran the “Ballett der Deutschen Oper am Rhein” Düsseldorf/ Duisburg, Germany. Following his passion for teaching, Leon founded and directed the “Ballettschule der Deutschen Oper am Rhein”. Besides giving ballet classes, Leon continued to work as Ballet Master and Assistant Director at all times. He was in charge of the general and financial management of the company. He further managed to appoint some of the world’s finest choreographers like John Neumeier, Mats Ek, Jiri Kilian, Hans van Manen, Uwe Scholz, Nils Christe, Christopher Bruce, Richard Wherlock and Petr Zuska to choreograph or arrange their ballets for the company in Düsseldorf. In addition, Leon Kjellsson has worked as a guest teacher at several summer schools of the Hungarian Dance Academy, the Ballett Dortmund and in Switzerland. Since autumn 2009 he is now working as free-lance ballet teatcher and has among others been invited to work with ballet companies like the Wiener Staatsoper and Wiener Volksoper, Prag State Opera and National Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Danish Dance Theatre/Dansehallerne, Ballett Dortmund, Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Bridget Breiner's Ballett im Revier and Robert North's Ballet Krefeld/Mönchengladbach.