Vito Mazzeo

The Italian dancer Vito Mazzeo has been with Dutch National Ballet since 2013. He trained at the La Scala ballet school in Milan and danced, successively, with The Royal Ballet, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and San Francisco Ballet. He joined the latter company in 2010 as a soloist, and was promoted to principal dancer six months later.

In San Francisco, Vito regularly formed a star couple with former Dutch National Ballet principal Sofiane Sylve. His move to Amsterdam was prompted by his admiration for Dutch National Ballet’s versatile repertoire and, in particular, by his fascination with the work of Hans van Manen. Moreover, after having danced in the United States for several years, he wanted to return to Europe, “because that’s where classical ballet originated”.

Vito is the winner of the Premio Postiano Léonide Massine 2010 for ‘Best Italian dancer’, and of the Italian Danza&Danza Award 2009 for ‘Best dancer of the year’. In 2016, he received the Capri Award for his role in Roméo and Juliette by Sasha Waltz. The British magazine Dance Europe mentioned him in 2019 in its Critics’ Choice, in the category ‘Outstanding performance by a male dancer’.