Gary Avis

Last updated

Gary Avis

MBE
Darcey Bussell retirement.jpg
(Left to right) Carlos Acosta, Darcey Bussell and Gary Avis at the curtain call of Bussell's farewell performance
Born1969or1970(age 52–53)
Ipswich, England
Education Bird College
The Royal Ballet School
Occupationballet dancer
PartnerTim Holder
Career
Current group The Royal Ballet
Former groups K-ballet
English National Ballet

Gary Avis MBE is an English ballet dancer who is currently a Principal Character Artist and Senior Ballet Master with The Royal Ballet, London. [1]

Contents

Early life

Avis was born in Ipswich. [2] He was first trained in musical theatre, and had performed in the Royal Variety Performance. [3] He did not start ballet until he was 12. He then studied musical theatre at Bird College in Kent. Avis later started training at The Royal Ballet School in London after a teacher from Bird College filled in the application form for him. [4]

Career

Avis joined The Royal Ballet in 1989, and became a soloist in 1995. In 1999, he co-founded K-ballet in Japan. [5] In 2002, he joined the English National Ballet as a First Soloist before returning to the Royal Ballet in 2004. He was made Principal Character Artist the following year. [6] In 2007, he was appointed Assistant Ballet Master, and was named Ballet Master in the 2009/10 season. [2] In 2019, Avis was made Senior Ballet Master. [7] He had portrayed character roles such as Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker , Von Rothbart in Swan Lake and Prince Gremin in Onegin . His role creations include Woolf Works , for which he danced with Alessandra Ferri. [8]

Avis is a frequent partner of Darcey Bussell. In her final performance, which was broadcast live, Avis danced with Bussell and Carlos Acosta in Song of the Earth . [6] Avis later danced in Bussell and Katherine Jenkins's tour, Viva la Diva [9] and on Strictly Come Dancing , where Bussell was a judge. [4] In 2012, Avis performed at the London Olympics closing ceremony, [10] in a sequence titled 'Spirit of the Flame', choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon and composed by David Arnold. Bussell flew to the stage on a flaming phoenix and when landing was met by Avis, Jonathan Cope, Edward Watson, Nehemiah Kish and over 200 ballet dancers, after which the Olympic Flame was extinguished. [11]

Avis won the National Dance Awards for Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) in 2011 and 2019. [12] [13] He was made an MBE in 2018. [1] He also has an honorary doctorate from the University of Suffolk, and had worked with the Art and Culture Fund at Suffolk Community Foundation. [14] [15]

Personal life

Avis is in a civil partnership with Tim Holder. [4] They live in rural Suffolk. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darcey Bussell</span> British ballerina

Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, is an English retired ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Royal Ballet</span> Ballet company in the United Kingdom

The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Ballet School</span> Classical ballet training facility in London

The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially for the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamara Rojo</span> Spanish ballet dancer, artistic director (born 1974)

Tamara Rojo CBE is a Spanish ballet dancer. She was the English National Ballet's artistic director) and a lead principal dancer with the company between 2012 and 2022. She was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet. She became the artistic director of San Francisco Ballet in late 2022.

Sir Anthony James Dowell is a retired British ballet dancer and a former artistic director of the Royal Ballet. He is widely recognized as one of the great danseurs nobles of the twentieth century.

<i>Mayerling</i> (ballet) Ballet by Kenneth MacMillan

Mayerling is a ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to the music of Franz Liszt, arranged by John Lanchbery, scenario by Gillian Freeman and designed by Nicholas Georgiadis. The ballet is based on the Mayerling incident, a series of events surrounding the apparent murder–suicide of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria and his lover, Baroness Mary Vetsera. The ballet premiered on 14 February 1978, at the Royal Opera House, danced by The Royal Ballet, with David Wall as Prince Rudolf and Lynn Seymour as Vetsera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fletcher Sibthorp</span> English painter

Fletcher Sibthorp is a British artist based in London, England. He is predominantly known for his large-scale figurative pieces, mostly in oil and usually depicting movement in the form of dance; ranging from contemporary dance through to classical ballet and flamenco. His work is housed in both private and corporate collections, mostly in the United Kingdom and Japan. He has painted several key figures in the world of dance, notably Royal Ballet principals Darcey Bussell, Sarah Lamb, Miyako Yoshida and Alina Cojocaru, and the flamenco performers, Joaquín Cortés, Eva Yerbabuena and Sara Baras.

Edward Watson MBE is a British ballet dancer. He is a principal dancer and coach with the Royal Ballet in London.

David Drew was an English ballet dancer and Principal Character Artist of The Royal Ballet.

Alistair Marriott is an English ballet choreographer and principal character artist of The Royal Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thiago Soares</span> Brazilian ballet dancer (born 1981)

Thiago Soares is a Brazilian ballet dancer and choreographer. He is a former principal dancer with The Royal Ballet in London, and guest principal in other theatres around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Alexandrova</span>

Maria Aleksandrovna Alexandrova is a Russian principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet, People’s Artist of Russia.

Jonathan Cope is a British ballet dancer. He was a principal dancer at The Royal Ballet until his retirement in 2006, then served as a répétiteur with the company until 2019.

<i>Song of the Earth</i> (ballet)

The Song of the Earth is a ballet based on Das Lied von der Erde, a symphonic work written by the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler in 1908–1909. It is scored for two voices and orchestra, and has been used for ballets by several well-known choreographers, including Antony Tudor (1908–1987), Kenneth MacMillan (1929–1992), Heinz Spoerli, and John Neumeier.

Winter Dreams is a one-act ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to piano pieces by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky selected and arranged by Philip Gammon and traditional Russian music selected and arranged for guitar and mandolin ensemble by Thomas Hartman. With scenery and costumes designed by Peer Farmer and lighting designed by Clive Thomas, it was first presented by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, London, on 7 February 1991.

The Prince of the Pagodas is a ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1989 for the Royal Ballet, London, based on the original 1957 John Cranko version. The music is by Benjamin Britten. The scenario was by Colin Thubron, the set and costume designer was Nicholas Georgiadis, and the lighting designer was John B Read.

Michael Nunn is a British ballet dancer, choreographer, and a television and film director/producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Calvert</span> English ballet dancer

Claire Louise Calvert is an English ballet dancer and is a first soloist at the Royal Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Rose O'Sullivan</span> English ballet dancer

Anna Rose O'Sullivan is an English ballet dancer and is a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet. Her promotion to principal dancer took effect in September 2021.

William Bracewell is a Welsh ballet dancer. He joined the Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2010, and was named soloist in 2014. In 2017, he joined the Royal Ballet in London, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2022. He is the first Welsh person to hold the position.

References

  1. 1 2 "Gary Avis — People — Royal Opera House". www.roh.org.uk. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Gary Avis". Royal Opera House. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "GARY AVIS MBE "In Conversation"". The London Ballet Circle. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Lambert, Victoria (30 August 2019). "I know how hard being a boy who loves ballet can be". The Telegraph. London.
  5. ↑ "Gary Avis 2007". The Ballet Association. Retrieved 29 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. 1 2 "Suffolk dancer stars in Darcey farewell". East Anglian Daily Times. 7 June 2007.
  7. ↑ Black, Becky (12 July 2019). "The Royal Ballet announces promotions, leavers and joiners for the 2019/20 season". Royal Opera House.
  8. 1 2 Webber, Christine (11 May 2015). "Gary Avis: 'No one's ever lonely in a dance class'". The Telegraph. London.
  9. ↑ "Glamour gig for Gary". East Anglian Daily Times. 29 April 2008.
  10. ↑ "Gary Avis Official Website - Spirit of the Flame - Olympic Closing Ceremony 2012". www.garyavis.com. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  11. ↑ "Spirit of the flame". London 2012.
  12. ↑ "2011 UK National Dance Awards – Winners Announced". Dance Tabs. 23 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "The National Dance Awards 2019/20". Dancing Times. 20 February 2020.
  14. ↑ Gibbon, Amy (12 October 2018). "Suffolk ballet star Gary Avis receives MBE at Buckingham Palace". East Anglian Daily Times.
  15. ↑ Mortimer, Lynne (4 April 2019). "Ballet Star Gary Avis in conversation with Christine Webber". Ipswich Star. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.