10 Facts About Birgit Keil

Birgit Keil was born on 22 September 1944 and is a German ballet dancer.

Birgit Keil was prima ballerina of the Stuttgart Ballet and was internationally known as The German Ballerina, Birgit Keil has been teaching at the Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim and directing the ballet ensemble of the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.

Birgit Keil was trained as ballet dancer in Bad Kissingen and in Stuttgart at the ballet school of the Staatstheater Stuttgart.

Birgit Keil studied in London at the Royal Ballet School for one year on a scholarship.

Birgit Keil performed major parts of classical as well as modern ballet, as a partner of dancers such as Richard Cragun, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Birgit Keil was known internationally as "die deutsche Ballerina", dancing at the Paris Opera, La Scala, with the American Ballet Theatre, the Royal Ballet and the Vienna State Opera, among others.

Birgit Keil has been director and professor of the Akademie des Tanzes at the Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim, teaching classical ballet, repertory, variations and pas de deux.

Birgit Keil is convinced that a classically trained dancer is able to dance in a wide range of styles.

From 2003, Keil has been director of the ballet ensemble of the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe in Karlsruhe, called Staatsballett Karlsruhe from 2013.

Birgit Keil was awarded the Order of Merit of Baden-Wurttemberg in 1979 and was named Kammertanzerin in 1980.