Cedric Ygnace

Born in France, Cédric Ygnace received his dance training at the Académie de Danse Princesse Grace de Monaco. His professional engagements led him to Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and later to Het Nationale Ballet Amsterdam, where he danced as Principal Dancer from 1998 to 2012. Throughout his career, he has appeared as a guest artist at numerous international galas and with companies worldwide.

Among the distinctions he has received are the Prix de Lausanne, the Gold Medal at the Rieti Competition, the Prix Danza & Danza and the Espoir de la Danse International in 1996, the Alexandra Radius Prize in 2004, the Golden Swan Award in 2009, and a double nomination for the Prix Benois de la Danse in 2010.

Cédric Ygnace’s repertoire includes leading roles in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, La Sylphide, Onegin, Cinderella, Giselle, La Bayadère, Don Quixote, Nijinsky, Don Giovanni, and Petrushka. He has also performed extensively in the works of George Balanchine, including Apollo, Agon, Concerto Barocco, Jewels, Square Dance, Serenade, Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, The Prodigal Son, and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. His repertoire further includes works by Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp.

Since 2013, Cédric Ygnace has worked internationally as ballet master, répétiteur, teacher, and assistant to choreographers and artistic directors including Krzysztof Pastor (Polish National Ballet), Martynas Rimeikis (Lithuanian National Ballet), Madeleine Onne (Finnish National Ballet), Aivars Leimanis (Latvian National Ballet), and Nina Poláková (Slovak National Ballet). He has staged works by Krzysztof Pastor, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, David Dawson, Dinna Bjørn, and Wayne Eagling, and has assisted choreographers such as Alexei Ratmansky, Patrick Delcroix, Eric Gauthier, and David Nixon.

As a teacher and coach, he has worked with Queensland Ballet, The Australian Ballet, West Australian Ballet — where he served as Principal Ballet Master from 2016 to 2018 — and The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet in Melbourne. From 2019 to 2021, he was teacher and coordinator at the European School of Ballet in Amsterdam. Since the 2023/24 season, Cédric Ygnace has been Ballet Master at the Vienna State Ballet, and since 2024 he has also served as Senior Repetitor at the Lithuanian National Ballet.