Nikolaj Hübbe was trained at the Royal Danish Theatre Ballet School and became part of the Royal Danish Ballet in 1984 where he was appointed principal dancer in 1988. In 1992, he became principal dancer at New York City Ballet.
On 10 February 2008, Nikolaj Hübbe concluded his dancing career with a farewell performance in New York with the New York City Ballet. He also performed as James in La Sylphide with the Royal Danish Ballet on 2 April 2008 prior to assuming the management of the Copenhagen ballet company as artistic director.
Nikolaj Hübbe has with great respect for the original Bournonville ballets created new productions for the Royal Danish Ballet of such classics as:
La Sylphide (2003, 2014 and 2020)
Napoli (2009)
A Folk Tale (2011)
Other stagings:
Giselle (2008 and 2016)
The Nutcracker (2011)
La Bayadere (2012)
Twelfth Night (2014)
Swan Lake (2015)
Don Quixote (2016 and 2022)
Weimar (2017)
Raymonda (2017)
August 2.0 (2019)
Instructor/stager at the Royal Theatre's gala on the occasion of Her Majesty the Queen's 50th anniversary (2022)
Dancing Career
Nikolaj Hübbe has performed a wide range of leading roles in the Royal Danish Ballet repertoire – from romantic ballets, such as La Sylphide, Romeo & Juliet, to neoclassical works such as Apollo and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. For the New York City Ballet he has performed leading roles in ballets by Balanchine, including Agon, Apollo, Concerto Barocco, Coppelia, Duo Concertant, The Nutcracker, Jewels, Liebslieder Walzer, Mozartiana, La Sonnambula, La Source, Square Dance, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Sylvia Pas de Deux, Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3, Tzigane, Union Jack, Vienna Waltzes, Western Symphony, and Who Cares? He has additionally appeared in leading roles in Jerome Robbin’s Afternoon of a Faun, Andantino, The Cage, The Four Seasons, Gershwin Concerto, I'm Old Fashioned, In the Night, Moves, Opus 19 / The Dreamer, Other Dances and Suite of Dances and Peter Martin’s Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, Robert La Fosse and Robert Garland’s Tributary, Sean Lavery’s Romeo and Juliet and Richard Tanner’s A Schubert Sonata.
Creations
Nikolaj Hübbe has performed leading roles in creations of Brandenburg and West Side Story Suite by Jerome Robbins, Violin Concerto, Eros Piano, Jazz (Six Syncopated Movements), Quartet for Strings, Symphonic Dances, Todo Buenos Aires, Romeo + Juliet and Zakouski by Peter Martins and in creations by choreographers David Allan, Stephen Baynes, Anna Lærkesen's, Robert La Fosse, Kevin O'Day and Twyla Tharp.
Film and TV
Nikolaj Hübbe has been portrayed as an artist and would-be artistic director in Ulrik Wivel’s film “Dancer” (2000).
He also appeared in a central role in the La Sylphide film entitled “I You Love” (2005) by the same director.
Judge in the tv show “Dancing with the Stars”, TV2 (from 2011-
Participating in "Steppeulven", drama by Ole Christian Madsen (2015)
Participating in TV2’s portrait program “Stjernerne på Slottet” (2016)
Participating in DR1's TV program "Kender du typen" (2018)
Main character in DR2+ documentary film "Hübbe har magten" (2020)
Censor in DR’s Christmas calendar “Julefeber” (2020)
Teacher in developing talent "www.mesterlaere.dk" (2021)
Participating in DR1's TV program "Skattejagt på museet" (2022)
Awards and honours
-Grant from the Marguerite Viby Jubilee Foundation (1990)
-Theatre Cup (1990)
-The Bikuben Foundation Honorary Award at the Reumert Awards (2002)
-American-Scandinavian Foundation Cultural Award (2009)
-‘Theatre Cat of the Year’ for his performance in A Folk Tale (2011)
-Dance Performance of the Year for A Folk Tale at the Reumert Awards (2011)
-Voted “Årets Verdensdansker (Global Dane of the Year)” by Danes Worldwide (2012)
-Knight of Dannebrog (2013)
-Detlefs honorary scholarshop (2020)
-Minister Erna Hamilton's Honorary Award (2022)
-Knight of the 1st degree of Dannebrog, (2023)