Kimmy Lauwens

Kimmy Lauwens started her dance education at the Municipal Primary School 2 on Prinsstraat and in 1981 continued her dance training at the Municipal Institute of Ballet in Antwerp, under the artistic direction of Mrs. Jos Brabants. After graduating, she joined the Royal Ballet of Flanders in 1987, where she gained professional experience for one year under the artistic direction of Robert Denvers. She then went abroad to the “Basler Ballet” in Switzerland, where she would stay for four years. This company was led by choreographer Heinz Spoerli, who promoted Kimmy to demi-soloist after only 2 seasons. During her professional dance career, she worked with various dance disciplines and danced works by several renowned choreographers such as Maurice Béjart, Judith Jamison, Nacho Duato, Heinz Spoerli, Shonach Mirk, George Balanchine, Rudolph Nureyev, August Bournonville, Yuri Vamos, Marius Petipa, Sir Frederick Ashton, Hans Van Manen, Paul Taylor, William Forsythe among others. Since Kimmy had realized at an early age that her true passion and ambition was teaching, she decided after five years to put an end to her professional dance career and to devote herself completely to teaching classical dance. She returned to Belgium, where in 1993 she obtained her diploma in dance pedagogy at the Higher Institute for Dance and Dance Pedagogy. Since 1993 she has been associated with the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp, first as a dance teacher and from September 2003 to August 2009 as Artistic Director. Her passion for teaching made her decide to return to the studio and focus on teaching young dancers. Kimmy Lauwens has been a guest teacher since 1999 during international dance internships, including the dance internship of 'Yuu Kikaku Ltd, Prix de Lausanne – Japan' and the 'International Dance Stage' in Italy. She sat on the jury in the graduation exams of the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp-AP Hogeschool-dance and the Royal Conservatoire-Dansdepartement The Hague. Kimmy is frequently asked as a jury member for international dance competitions including the Youth American Grand Prix, Tanz Olympic Berlin and the Prix de Lausanne. To date, she is a jury member of the Japanese Grand Prix- Tokyo.

She is also a guest teacher for 'dance analysis' at the Royal Conservatoire 'AP Hogeschool-Dans'. In 2016 Kimmy gave a guest lecture on 'talent detection' at the University of Leuven (KUL). She cooperated in the educational project of Mauro di Candia 'Formazione Tersicore - Arte & BallettO' in Italy. Due to her expertise, Kimmy is a much sought-after guest teacher who also gives additional training to dance teachers, both nationally and internationally. To date, Kimmy gives guest lessons at Junior Ballet Antwerp and is a ballet teacher at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp.