Assistant Choreographer
Bernice Coppieters was born in Termonde (Belgium) on November 16th, 1970. In 1980, she studied dance at the Antwerp Institute of Ballet. In 1988, she joined the Juilliard School of New York winning the Prix de Lausanne in the same year. In 1988, she entered the Royal Ballet of Flanders where she was made soloist.
In 1991, she joined The Ballets de Monte-Carlo directed by Jean-Christophe Maillot. The meeting marked the start of an partnership that has lasted for over 20 years. Bernice Coppieters has inspired Jean-Christophe Maillot to create his most memorable characters in ballets: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, the Fairy Godmother and Wicked Stepmother Cinderella, Meier in the Drosselmeier couple in Casse-noisette Circus, Beauty in La Belle, Titania in Le Songe, Death in Faust, Princess Sheherazade in Sheherazade, Her Majesty the Night in LAC. She has also performed major roles in the ballets Concert d’anges, Dov’e la Luna, Duo d’anges, Home, Sweet Home, Theme et Quatre Variations, Ubuhuha, Vers un pays Sage, In Volo, Tile, Opus 40, OEil pour oeil, Entrelacs, D’une rive a I’autre, Altro Canto I et II, Fauves (with Gil Roman), Men’s Dance for Women, Daphnis et Chloe. Bernice Coppieters has also danced the lead roles in Sheherazade, Les Sylphides, The Firebird, Petrouchka, L’Apres-midi d’un Faune as well as the repertoire of George Balanchine (Agon, The four Temperaments, The prodigal Son, La Valse, Serenade, Violin Concerto, Who cares ?, Theme and Variations). She has also worked with many modern choreographers whose pieces have become part of the repertoire of the Ballets de Monte- Carlo, or who, as guest choreographers, have created roles for her: Duende by Nacho Duato, In the Middle- Somewhat Elevated, Approximate Sonata, The Vile Parody of Address and The Second Detail by William Forsythe, Watching Waters by Renato Zanella, Return to a Strange Land, Bella Figura, Sechs Tanze, No More Play and Silent Cries by Jin Kylian, and pieces by Karole Armitage, Lucinda Childs (The Chairman Dances), Twyla Tharp, Kevin O’Day, Angelin Preljocaj, Uwe Sholz, Jacopo Godani, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (In memoriam, Mea Culpa), Johan Inger, Alonzo King, Marco Goecke, and Maurice Bejart who gave her the honour of dancing his Bolero.
In recent years, she has worked for Jean-Christophe Maillot on several of his major productions for large companies such as the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Essen Ballet, the Vienna State Opera Ballet, the Korea National Ballet, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the National Theatre of Prague, the Atlanta Ballet Company.
In 2015, Bernice Coppieters is Principal Ballet Master.