Joakim Visnes

Joakim Visnes joined the Norwegian National Ballet in the autumn of 2024, after two years with the Norwegian National Ballet 2.

With the main company, he has danced roles such as Lescaut in Manon, Hilarion and the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, the Jester in Cinderella, Siegfried in Espejord’s A Tale About Swan Lake, the Roma Boy in Don Quixote, and Red in Kylián’s Forgotten Land. He has also performed in Kylián’s Symphony of Psalms and the Pas de Quatre in Raymonda.

During his time with NNB 2, he danced roles in Espejord’s A part together, Hayakawa’s Limerence, León and Lightfoot’s Susto and Step Lightly, Duato’s Remanso, Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, and Boyadjiev’s The Nutcracker.

In the autumn of 2025, Visnes was awarded the Tom Wilhelmsen Opera & Ballet Prize, becoming the youngest recipient in the prize’s history. He received the award during the 60th anniversary celebration of the Tom Wilhelmsen Foundation, where he performed a self-choreographed solo.

Norwegian-born Visnes (b. 2004) is from Hokksund and began dancing at the age of ten. He competed in a wide range of dance styles before beginning classical ballet in 2019 at the Norwegian Ballet School & Academy under teachers Vladimir Sychev and Liudmila Sycheva. As a competitive dancer under the Norwegian Dance Federation, he has won 5 World Championship gold medals, 6 European Championship gold medals, and 16 Norwegian Championship titles. He has since earned several distinctions, including winning gold at the Korea International Ballet Competition in 2022 and receiving the People’s Award from the Norwegian Dance Federation the same year.

In the summer of 2022, Visnes performed a solo from Nureyev’s Diana and Acteon at a gala performance in Seoul with the Seoul Youth Ballet Company. He also played the role of Sivert in the Norwegian feature film War Sailor (2022).