Freek Damen is a ballet master at the National Ballet of Portugal (CNB), which he joined in 2002. Born in Amsterdam, he completed his classical and contemporary dance training at the National Ballet Academy of Amsterdam, later joining the Dutch National Ballet.
In 2018, he quit dancing and became a repetitor at CNB. He worked as an assistant in the creation of Quinze Bailarinos e Tempo Incerto and Annette, Adele e Lee by Rui Lopes Graça and João Penalva (2016 and 2018 respectively), Impromptus by Sasha Waltz (2018), Alice no País das Maravilhas by Howard Quintero (2020), and Deste mundo e do outro by Olga Roriz (2022). He assisted in the staging and/or restaging of 5 Tangos and In the Future by Hans van Manen (2016 and 2019 respectively), A Tecedura do Caos by Tânia Carvalho (2018), The Rite of Spring (2018 and 2023), The Green Table by Kurt Jooss (2020), Fall by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (2022), Cantata by Mauro Bigonzetti (2022), S by Tânia Carvalho, Workwithinwork by William Forsythe (2024), Minus 16 by Ohad Naharin (2024), and The Look by Sharon Eyal (2024). He has restaged, among others, iTMOi (in the mind of Igor) by Akram Khan, The Nutcracker by Mehmet Balkan, the classical piece Don Quixote by Alexander Gorsky, Savalliana by Rui Lopes Graça, The Green Table, La Sylphide by August Bournonville, Giselle by George Garcia, Grosse Fugue by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, and Coppélia by John Auld.
In addition to his work in rehearsals and in the restaging of pieces, he has taught at Saarländische Staatstheater in Saarbrücken, at Ballet West in Salt Lake City, and at the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, and he currently teaches classical dance at CNB (since 2018) and at the EVC (since 2023). He is also a member of the official team responsible for stagings of Jooss’ The Green Table around the world.
