Junior Ballet: cultivating young talent at the Paris Opera

In May 2024, the Paris Opera announced the creation of its new company: the Junior Ballet. A project that would not have been possible without the support of its patrons. This year, the Junior Ballet is organising its first international tour to reach out to audiences far removed from the world of ballet.

Published on: 2 April 2025

An incubator for professional ballet
training

Last September, the Paris Opera launched its new training programme and company, the Junior Ballet, for:

around 20 young dancers
from around the world
aged 18 to 23
for a two-year contract in professional ballet training

In addition to furthering the professional careers of these talented dancers, this new initiative is in line with the Paris Opera’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, both:

in its objective of diversifying the dancers who perform on stage at the Paris Opera, as illustrated by naming Guillaume Diop as its principal dancer in March 2023
and by increasing its openness to the public.

Bringing this cultural universe to audiences unfamiliar with it through tours and outreach initiatives, the Junior Ballet also contributes to the Opera’s influence outside of Paris by performing in regional theatres and festivals. This outreach policy is also put into practice through attractive pricing and adapted programming.

Excellence
and culture accessible to all, with the help of corporate philanthropy

In the aim of supporting culture for all, the BNP Paribas Foundation has been stepping up its commitment in this area in recent years. Through its philanthropy, every year the Foundation helps some 30,000 young people to discover opera.

The Foundation, along with the other patrons of the Junior Ballet, is driven by the conviction that “everyone has a place at the opera and that it belongs to everyone”. Isabelle Giordano, Head of the BNP Paribas Foundation and Corporate Philanthropy, takes us backstage at the Palais Garnier to share the Foundation’s engagement in the Junior Ballet.

For more details on the Junior Ballet: https://www.operadeparis.fr/artistes/ballet/le-junior-ballet

The Junior Ballet goes on tour in 2025

In line with the objective of preparing the dancers for a professional career, several performances are planned in France and abroad, beginning with a date in Greece at the end of May. In France, they will be performing at a number of locations outside Paris: