Valbona Bushkola

SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Valbona Bushkola received her training at the Albanian National Ballet School in Tirana. She gained her first stage experience with the ballet company of the National Theatre there, as well as at the Academy of Dance in Mannheim. In the 2017/18 season, Valbona Bushkola was a scholarship holder of the Birgit Keil Dance Foundation and a member of the ballet studio at the Stuttgart Ballet. In the 2018/19 season, she appeared as a guest with Ballett Dortmund in Xin Peng Wang’s "Swan Lake". At the beginning of the 2019/20 season, she took up her first full-time engagement with the ballet ensemble of the Salzburg State Theatre.

Since then, she has danced various solo roles in works by Reginaldo Oliveira, including Betsy in Anna Karenina, Marie in The Nutcracker, Helene and Gerda in "Lili, the Danish Girl", Carabosse in "Sleeping Beauty", as well as the dancing role of Amneris in the opera Aida. Kristina Paulin created the role of George Sand for her in "Dezemberregen", and with Kristian Lever she originated the role of Vera in his ballet Greener Grass. In the 2024/25 season, she was nominated as “Best Dancer” by the specialist magazine tanz for her portrayal of the title role in Oliveira’s "Frida’s World". In autumn 2025, she successfully debuted as "Carmen" in Valentina Turcu’s choreography.

Last updated: November 2025