It was founded in 1939, at the same time as the opera company, as a division of the National (then Royal) Theater. Its first director was the distinguished Czech choreographer Sasha Makhov.
Initially, the company functioned either as an opera ballet—that is, participating in various opera and operetta productions—or by presenting independent dance performances. Gradually, it developed increasingly ambitious programs. Thus, immediately after the National Opera became an independent institution in 1944, it presented full-length ballets such as, for example, Manolis Kalomiris’s *The Death of the Brave Woman* and Georgios Sklavos’s *The Eagle*. Starting in the 1980s, the great romantic ballets began to be added to the organization’s repertoire one by one.
In 1994, choreographer Leonidas de Pian took over as director of the ballet, and he was succeeded in 1999 by Anna Petrova. In 2006, the renowned Canadian dancer and choreographer Lyn Symour served as director, followed by Russian dancer and choreographer Irek Mukhamedov (October 2007) and Christiana Stefanou (January 2010). In the fall of 2011, the GNO Ballet was taken over by the Italian dancer and choreographer Renato Gianella. In 2017, the internationally renowned Antonis Foniadakis took over as director of the GNO Ballet, and the following year, choreographer, director and visual artist Konstantinos Rigos.
Since its founding, the Greek National Opera Ballet has collaborated with prominent Greek and international choreographers such as Tatiana Varouti, Olympia Gelodari, Angelos Grimanis, Zouzou Nikoloudi, Rallou Manou, Yannis Metsis, Leonidas de Pian, Helen Tsoukala, Yannis Flery, Zoe Dimitriou, Yannis Mantafounis, Fotis Nikolaou, Konstantinos Rigos, Antonis Foniadakis, Vladimir Vasiliev, Igor Zelensky, Zerminal Cassanto, Boris Knyazev, Kenneth MacMillan, Lorca Massine, Kalina Bogoyeva, Anthony Tudor, Rudy van Dantsich, Rosalia Hladek. In addition, in recent years the GNO Ballet has collaborated with distinguished international choreographers such as Alexander Ekman, Nacho Duato, Marco Geike, Jirí Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, Edward Glug, and Cayetano Soto.It has presented the most significant ballets of the classical repertoire, such as Swan Lake, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadère, Raymonda, Le Corsaire, The Snow Queen, The Sylphs, and many ballets by Greek composers, such as, for example, *The Death of the Masculine Woman* by Manolis Kalomiris, *The Eagle* by Georgios Sklavos, *Zorba*, *Electra* and *Mythology* by Mikis Theodorakis, *Tanagraia* by Giorgos Sisilianou, *The Cursed Snake* by Manos Hadjidakis, *The Fiery Chariot* by Vangelis Papathanassiou, *Genesis* by Michalis Adamis, *Antichthon*and *Aroura* by Iannis Xenakis, and others, as well as numerous works by contemporary choreographers.
The Greek National Opera Ballet has participated in the Athens and Epidaurus Festival since its founding in 1955 and has performed, among other venues, at the Olympia Theater, the Athens and Thessaloniki Concert Halls, and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. It has also toured outside Greece, in Egypt (Cairo, 1999, 2000), Turkey (Aspendos, 2001), Australia (Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, 2002), and France (Paris, 2005), and performed as part of the 2000/4 Cultural Olympiad. In 2000, the Friends of the Greek National Opera awarded him the APOLLON Prize.
