The Dancers
Damen Axtens
Soloist Damen Axtens. Photo by Stephen A’Court.
Damen Axtens joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet in June of 2021 and was promoted to Soloist in 2023. Since joining the company, Damen has danced in Loughlan Prior’s The Firebird and Paquita along with the roles of Rustics and Puck in Liam Scarlett’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 2022, he performed the roles of Prince Dashing and The Fab Five’s Alexander in Loughlan Prior’s Cinderella, roles in Shaun James Kelly’s The Ground Beneath Our Feet and Olivier Wever’s The Sofa in Tutus on Tour as well as in Alice Topp’s Aurum, Sarah Foster-Sproull’s The Autumn Ball and Twyla Tharp’s Waterbaby Bagatelles™ as part of Venus Rising.
Damen grew up in New Zealand and started ballet at the Drapers Academy of Dance in Pukekohe before getting the opportunity to train at The Australian Ballet School and eventually graduating from The Royal Ballet School in London. After graduating, he joined Birmingham Royal Ballet where he danced various roles in both classical and contemporary works such as Sir Peter Wright’s Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, along with Goyo Montero’s Chacona and Will Tuckett’s Lazuli Sky.
