Born in France in the century of Louis XIV, ballet developed in Bordeaux from the 18^th century and has since gradually gained a reputation and opened up creative possibilities. Since the 1990s, the Ballet de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux has been able to open its classical heritage to modernity through collaborations with numerous choreographers. Today it is made up of nearly 40 dancers.

The Ballet de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux has received many awards including the Herald Angels Prize (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), the Prize for Best Foreign Ballet in Cuba, and has won the Lifar International Ballet Contest in both 2001 and 2014. In addition to the classical repertoire (The Nutcracker, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake...), the Company performs the repertoire inherited from the Russian Ballets (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun by Nijinsky, Petrouchka by Fokine etc.) but also works by neo-classical and contemporary choreographers (Jirí Kylián, William Forsythe, Carolyn Carlson etc).

The Ballet de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux performs each season at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, and also tours in France and abroad. The 2018/2019 season marks the start of a partnership with the l’Opéra National de Paris and choreographer Angelin Preljocaj. Since Eric Quilleré began his tenure as artistic director, the Ballet de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux has added a number of performances to its repertoire, including La Fille Mal Gardee (Ashton version), Notre-Dame de Paris by Roland Petit, Cendrillon by David Bintley, The Concert and In the Night by Jérôme Robbins, Snow White, La Stravaganza and Ghost by Angelin Preljocaj, Faun by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Paz de La Jolla by Justin Peck, Obsidian Tear by Wayne McGregor, Cacti by Alexander Ekman, Celestial by Garrett Smith, among others, Bottom of My Sea by L. Komkova (winner of the II Young choreographers' competition 2018), Mythologies by Angelin Preljocaj.