Background
Douglas Lee was born in London and started his ballet training at the Arts Educational Schools London.
Douglas Lee was born in London and started his ballet training at the Arts Educational Schools London.
A former principal dancer with the Stuttgart Ballet, his ballets have been premiered by Stuttgart Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, New York City Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theatre, and several other European ballet companies. Lee then joined The Stuttgart Ballet. His promotion to principal dancer followed in 2002.
As a principal dancer, Lee danced many roles for choreographers such as John Cranko, Jiri Kylian, John Neumeier, Hans Van Manen, Glen Tetley, George Balanchine and William Forsythe.
Douglas made his choreographic debut in February 1999 for the Stuttgart-based Noverre Society"s Young Choreographers, upon which he was commissioned to create a new work for the Stuttgart Ballet. He also participated twice at the New York Choreographic Institute to work with dancers of The New York City Ballet.
With Aubade and Lachrymal, Lee presented his first works for the Stuttgart Opera House. New creations for the Stuttgart Ballet also included Viewing Room, Dummy Run and Leviathan.
His tenth work for the Stuttgart Ballet, Nightlight, premiered in March 2010.
Following his choreographic success in Stuttgart, he became a freelance choreographer working internationally. His creation Fanfare LX for the Stuttgart Ballet was taken into the repertoire of the Staatsballett Berlin. He created Fractured Wake and returned to create 5 for Silver for the Norwegian National Ballet, Rubicon Play for the Royal Ballet of Flanders and Lifecasting set to the music of Steve Reich for the New York City Ballet, which was shortlisted in Time Out New York as one of the outstanding dance works of 2009 and taken into the Stuttgart Ballet repertoire.
2003 Aubade, Stuttgart Ballet
2004 Lachrymal, Stuttgart Ballet
2005 Fractured Wake, Norwegian National Ballet
2006 Rubicon Play, Royal Ballet of Flanders
2006 Viewing Room, Stuttgart Ballet
2007 Dummy Run, Stuttgart Ballet
2008 Leviathan, Stuttgart Ballet
2009 Lifecasting, New York City Ballet
2009 Fanfare LX, Stuttgart Ballet
2010 Nightlight, Stuttgart Ballet
2011 Souvenir, Permanent Opera Ballet Theatre
2011 Miniatures, Stuttgart Ballet
2011 5 Foreign Silver, Norwegian National Ballet
2012 Septet, Tulsa Ballet
2012 Aria, Stuttgart Ballet
2012 Iris, Ballet Zurich
2012 Legion, Netherlands Dance Theatre II
2012 Chimera, Ballet Augsburg
2013 PianoPiece, Ballet Dortmund
2014 A-Life, Ballet Zurich
2014 The Fade, Ballet Mainz
2014 Doll Songs, Ballet Nuremberg
2015 Snow Was Falling, Permanent Ballet.
He then received a scholarship for the Royal Ballet School, where he graduated in 1996, winning the Alicia Markova Award. He then created Miniatures for the Stuttgart Ballet and Souvenir for Permanent Opera Ballet Theatre which received 3 Golden Mask Award Nominations, Septet for Tulsa Ballet, Aria for the Stuttgart Ballet, Iris and A-Life for Ballet Zurich, Chimera for Ballet Augsburg, Legion for Netherlands Dance Theatre 2, PianoPiece for Theater Dortmund, The Fade for Ballet Mainz and Doll Songs for Ballet Nuremberg.
