Sophie Debou

I was born in Cracow and I’m half Polish, half French. I started dancing when I was 5 years old, in my hometown, doing folk and classical dance. At 10 I entered the National Ballet School near my hometown, in Bytom, where I mastered my skills in classical, contemporary and folk dance, as well as had my first stage experiences in performances “The Beatles and Queen” and “Pan Twardowski” at the Silesian Opera. When I turned 16, I moved to Germany to train at the Benedict Manniegel Ballet Academy in Munich, where I had a chance to improve my technique and artistry from experienced dance teachers.
After one year, I got accepted to Rosella Hightower School based in Cannes, where I extended my dance abilities towards more neo-classical and modern. We got a chance to dance pieces, such as: “Serenade” by George Balanchine, “Tribulations” by Julien Guérin, “Stetl” by Richard Wherlock, “O Fortuna” by Michelle Merola, “12 Postdated Cheks” by Ella Rothschild, “Romeo and Juliet” by Angelin Preljocaj and many more.
Throughout the years I’ve also gained experience in summer courses I attended, for example Royal Ballet Summer School in London, Académie Princesse Grace in Monte Carlo and IB Stage in Barcelona, where we had a chance to dance the repertoire of Mats Ek, William Forsythe, Jean-Christophe Maillot and David Dawson. Other than that, I spent a week doing an internship in Ballet Dortmund and NRW Junior Ballet. I also had a chance to take classes and workshops with companies across the Netherlands and Belgium, such as Het National Junior Company, Ballet Flanders, Introdans and Nederlands Dans Theatre.

In 2019 I joined the Benedict Manniegel Dance Company in Munich.
In 2020, I joined the Jihočeské Divadlo ensemble in České Budějovice as member of the corps de ballet. I had a chance to perform the role of Princess Florina in “Sleeping Beauty”.

In 2022, I’ve been promoted to Demi-Soloist and danced leading roles in “Pan’s Labyrinth” as Ofelia, “Tristan & Isolde” as Isolde, “Popelka” as Cinderella and “Slavonic Dances” as “Divka”.
In 2023, I was promoted to Soloist.
In 2024 I won the Jihoceska Thalia Award for the role of Cinderella.