Joshua Junker

Joshua Junker was born in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He began studying contemporary dance and breakdance from the age of eight at Boys Action. When he was 14, he turned to ballet and started his training at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Two years later, he continued his training at the Royal Ballet School in London.

In 2017, Junker joined The Royal Ballet’s Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme and was promoted to ‘Artist’ in 2018, and to ‘First Artist’ in 2022. His repertory with The Royal Ballet includes the leading role in The Nutcracker and several soloist roles in Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker as well. Junker also danced in modern pieces such as Wayne McGregor’s The Dante Project and Crystal Pite’s The Statement, and performed the leading role in Kyle Abraham’s The Weathering. Furthermore, he created roles in new works such as Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Medusa and Crystal Pite’s Light of Passage.

In recent years, Junker has created several promising works for the choreographic project Draft Works, the British equivalent of Dutch National Ballet’s New Moves. One of these works was performed at International Draft Works, a programme where upcoming choreographers from companies around the world present their work. Another work, That’s Someone You Never Forget, was included in the programme of The Royal Ballet Tour in Doncaster, where it received excellent reviews.

Junker’s awards as a dance student include De Piket Kunstprijzen in The Hague (2014), the School’s Lynn Seymour Award for Expressive Dance (2015) and the Ursula Moreton Choreographic Award (2016).