Madison Young
Born in Utah, USA, Madison Youung began her training at the Ballet West Academy before continuing her education at the Houston Ballet Academy. In 2016, at the age of 17, she gained international attention at the Prix de Lausanne, where she earned the prestigious Beau Rivage Palace Second Place Award. This achievement marked the beginning of her professional career. Following, she joined the Company of Houston Ballet for the 2016/17 season as a member of the corps de ballet. In 2017, she moved to the Vienna State Ballet under the direction of Manuel Legris, where she was promoted to demi-soloist only after a year and to soloist in 2019.
In 2020, she joined the Bavarian State Ballet as a soloist under the direction of Igor Zelensky. Shortly after joining, at the age of 23, she was promoted to Principal Dancer in December 2021.
From the 2025/26 season Madison Young will return to the Vienna State Ballet as a Principal Dancer, now under the direction of Alessandra Ferri.
Her extensive repertoire includes the leading roles of the classical ballets such as Tatiana and Olga in John Cranko’s Onegin, Juliet in Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, Odette/Odile in Ray Barra’s Swan Lake, Giselle and Myrtha in Barra’s Giselle, Kitri in Barra’s Don Quixote, Nikiya in Patrice Bart’s La Bayadère and the title role in Pierre Lacotte’s La Sylphide.
She has also danced many of George Balanchine’s works, such as the principal roles in Jewels, Allegro Brillante, and demi-soloist roles in Theme and Variations and Valse Fantaisie, and in ballets by Rudolf Nurejew and Sir Kenneth MacMillan. Furthermore, she has excelled in contemporary classical roles such as Tatiana in John Neumeier’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Diana in Manuel Legris’ Sylvia and the title roles in Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland.
Madison Young has also performed modern works such as the principal roles in Angelin Preljocaj’s Le Parc, William Forsythe’s Artifact Suite, Nacho Duato’s White Darkness and Pina Bausch’s Le Sacre du Printemps as well as parts in works bei Alexei Ratmansky, Jiří Kylián, Edward Clug, Paul Lightfoot & Sol León and Sir Wayne McGregor.