HARALD UWE KERN

Born in Vienna, Austria Mr. Kern studied at the Ballet School of the Vienna State Opera under Karl Musil and at the Academie de la Danse de Princess Grace in Monte Carlo.

He continued to study with such teachers as David Howard, Maggie Black, Kirsten Ralov (Bournonville Technique), Irina Kolpakova and Vladilen Semyonov (Vaganova Technique) and many others throughout his career.

At the age of 16 he received his first professional engagement with the Vienna Opera Ballet and at 18 performed his first principal part dancing “Blue Bird” in Rudolf Nureyev’s production of Sleeping Beauty.

Harald Uwe Kern has performed as a Soloist and Principal Dancer with the Vienna State Opera Ballet, Basel Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet (N.Y.), Ballet Internationale, Charleston Ballet and the Channel Island Ballet where he also served as the Associate Artistic Director. He appeared also as a guest performer with numerous companies around the world.

He danced leading roles in all the major classical romantic ballets and won critical acclaim for his interpretation of roles in ballets by Sir Frederick Ashton, John Cranko, Leonide Massine, John Neumeier, Rudolf Nureyev, Heinz Spörli, George Balanchine, Val Caniparoli, Jiri Kilian and many more.

In 1987 he received the “Special Award for Artistic Achievement “at the New York International Ballet Competition and a year later the “Prix d’Interpretation” from the Paris International Dance Competition. After that he was personally invited by ballet legend Alicia Alonso to participate at the 150th Anniversary of the Gran Teatro Hababa and the 40th Anniversary of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

Under the guidance of Irina Kolpakova and her husband Vladilen Semyonov he became a teacher and a coach while continuing his dancing career.

His dancing and teaching brought him to Theaters, Companies, Colleges and Dance Schools all over the U.S., Europe and Asia.

In 2005 he came to Louisville to join Artistic Director Mr. Bruce Simpson and Associate Artistic Director Helen Starr as the Louisville Ballet’s Ballet Master where he coached, staged and choreographed numerous ballets for the Company and Louisville Ballet School.

2023-2025 he served as Artistic Director of the Louisville Ballet.

He married the dancer Ashley Thursby in 2011 and have one daughter.

In is free time he studies Ballet history, collects rare vinyl records, has a weekly radio show and puts on the occasional 60s Vinyl Dance Party.