Reid Anderson, Artistic Director of the Stuttgart Ballet since September 1996, can look back over a long and successful career as a dancer, teacher, trainer, producer and ballet director.
Anderson was born in 1949 in New Westminster, British Columbia/Canada, and began his dance training at the Dolores Kirkwood Academy in Burnaby, B.C. He was given a grant at the age of 17 which allowed him to study at the Royal Ballet School in London, England. One year later, in February 1969, he joined the Stuttgart Ballet, whose Artistic Director at the time was John Cranko. During his 17-year career at the Stuttgart Ballet, Reid Anderson, who was promoted to Soloist in 1974 and to Principal Dancer in 1978, danced in a wide range of classical and contemporary ballets and worked with many of the leading choreographers of the 20th century.
From August 1987 to June 1989, Reid Anderson was Artistic Director of Ballet British Columbia in Vancouver and in July 1989 he was appointed Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto.
In 1996, Reid Anderson returned to the Stuttgart Ballet as Artistic Director, where he rejuvenated the company adding 21 new dancers, prompting the renowned dance critic Horst Koegler to state: "Today's Stuttgart Ballet is the best Stuttgart Ballet in thirty-five years."
From the very outset, Reid Anderson followed a repertoire policy which placed equal weight on preserving and cultivating the Cranko legacy and promoting the works of established contemporary choreographers as well as on discovering and nurturing new talent. Reid Anderson travels frequently in order to rehearse Cranko's masterpieces with famous ballet companies all over the world.
In February 2006 Reid Anderson was awarded the German Dance Prize 2006 for his contribution to the dance art form in Germany. In the same month, the readers of the popular dance magazine "Dance Europe" voted Reid Anderson "Director of the Year". In April 2009 Reid Anderson received the Medal of Merit of Baden-Württemberg. In 2011 the Stuttgart Ballet under direction of Reid Anderson was elected "Company of the year" in the annual international critics survey of the renowned magazine tanz.