Nicola Wills comes from Adelaide, South Australia, where she completed her dance training at Terry Simpson Studios. In 2009, She graduated from Annesley College with Honors and won the Silver Medal at the RAD Genee competition in Singapore. After completing a two-year traineeship with the Queensland Ballet Professional program, she joined Ballet Dortmund in 2012, before moving to Belgium in 2013 to dance with the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (FKA: Royal Ballet of Flanders).
Nicola was promoted to demi-soloist in 2017, and during her time in the company has performed pieces by and worked with choreographers such as William Forsythe, Crystal Pite, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Akram Khan, Johan Inger, Alexander Ekman, Pina Bausch, Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin and many more. Whilst continuing to dance and make her own work, Nicola is currently studying a part-time Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology at the University of South Australia, to aid her better understanding the human condition as it is her wish to create nuanced work that is socially and emotionally relevant.
During her time in the Ballet van Vlaanderen, she has made 8 stage works and 2 dance films for the company’s in-house choreographers’ program. In 2021, her piece The Glass Ceiling, won her the National Youth Ballet of Hamburg production prize in the 35th Hannover Choreographic competition, with Gerard Davis highlighting her as a ‘New Name to Watch’ in the Dance Europe 2021 Critics Choice awards. In 2023, she will be completing her first full-length production with the Kennesaw State University summer choreographic residency in the US and is commissioned to create work for the Gent Festival program in Belgium. Her duet Two People in Love Never Shake Hands has been selected to compete in the 37th Hannover Choreographic competition and will also be performed in the International Dance Gala in Genoa, Italy.
