Born in Wilrijk, Belgium, Alain Honorez was trained at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp.
In 1996 the 17 year-old joined the corps de ballet of the Royal Ballet of Flanders and in 2004 was promoted to the rank of principal. During his 16 year career with the company he shone in many leading roles from the classical, neo-classical and modern ballet repertoire.
Known for his fluid dance style, strong dramatic sense and powerful stage presence, Alain feels most at home dancing the repertoire of David Dawson, in ballets such as ‘The Grey Area’, ‘A Sweet Spell of Oblivion’, ‘The Third Light’ and ‘Faun(e)’.
Other renowned choreographers with whom he worked include William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Christian Spuck, Nicolo Fonte, Jean-Christophe Maillot, Jorma Elo & Demis Volpi amongst many others..
In 1997 Alain took 2nd prize at the Eurovision Dance Competition in Gdansk, Poland and in 2008, won the ‘Mathilde Schroyens Dance Prize’.He was nominated in 2009 for the ‘Prix Benois de la Danse’ in the category ‘Best Male Dancer’ and in 2012 was awarded a ‘Golden Label’ by the internet site Klassiek Centraal for his ‘Exceptional Career’.
The high point in Alain’s career came in 2006 with his brilliant performance as Carabosse in Marcia Haydée’s acclaimed version of ‘The Sleeping Beauty’. It was a role that fitted him like a glove, in which he could combine both his acting talent and his technical proficiency. This exceptional performance led to an invitation to perform the role of Carabosse as guest artist with the Santiago Ballet of Chile and the West Australian Ballet in Perth.
In 2010 he was invited back to perform with the Santiago Ballet, this time to dance the role of Rothbart, a part especially created for him by Marcia Haydée (in the world premiere for Royal Ballet of Flanders) of her ballet ‘Swan Lake’.
After his departure from Royal Ballet of Flanders, Alain chose to follow a free-lance career; while still actively dancing, he worked for a period as ballet master for Wayne McGregor’s ballet ‘Infra’, taught and coached and in between studied photography – a life-long passion.
From 2017 until 2019 he taught classical ballet at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp.
Alain Honorez’ long-standing dream was realised when in 2019, he was active in the foundation of a new young company – Junior Ballet Antwerp . As independent Artistic Director and together with his life partner, choreographer Altea Nuñez, he supervises 20 young dancers between the ages of 17 and 21 years, honing their talents, both technically and artistically. This initiative which recurs every two years, is aimed at bridging the gap between a young dancer’s school graduation and the commencement of a professional dance career, and it centers around intensive choreographic workshops, technical training and improving performing experience.
©Filip van Roe