Elisabeth Tonev

Principal Dancer

Elisabeth hails from Berlin, Germany. She was surrounded by ballet from an early age, as her parents are both former ballet dancers. Her mother comes from Spain and her father from Bulgaria. Elisabeth received her training at the Berlin State Ballet School and performed in numerous classical productions at the Staatsballett Berlin during her training. In 2019, Elisabeth was invited by Deputy Artistic Director Rachel Beaujean to join the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet. In the main company, to which she was accepted in 2020, she rose from Trainee to Soloist within three years. In November 2024, Elisabeth received the Konstanze Vernon Prize from the Munich-based Heinz Bosl Foundation. For the 2025/2026 season, she was invited by ballet director Laurent Hilaire to join Bayerisches Staatsballett as a Principal Dancer.

During her time in Amsterdam, Elisabeth took on the roles of Kitri in Don Quixote (there in the version by Alexei Ratmansky), Clara in The Nutcracker (there in the version by Wayne Eagling & Toer van Schayk) and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty (there in the version by Peter Wright) during her time in Amsterdam. As for the contemporary repertoire she worked on at Dutch National Ballet, productions such asTrio Kagel (Alexei Ratmansky), The Four Seasons (David Dawson), Four Schumann Pieces (Hans van Manen), Blake Works I (William Forsythe) and Jewels (George Balanchine) should be mentioned.

(Information as of September 2025)

Roles and parts in the 2025/26 season
Title role in Giselle (Peter Wright after Coralli/Perrot/Petipa)
Louise in The Nutcracker (John Neumeier)
Blake Works I (William Forsythe), as part of theWaves and Circles triple bill
Solo in Boléro (Maurice Béjart), as part of theWaves and Circles triple bill
Odette in Illusions – like Swan Lake (John Neumeier)
Tatjana in Onegin (John Cranko)
Marguerite Gautier in Die Kameliendame (John Neumeier)
Female Soloist in Le Parc (Angelin Preljocaj)