Melissa Hamilton | |
|---|---|
 Hamilton in 2014 | |
| Born | 2 August 1989 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Occupation | Ballet dancer |
| Years active | 2007-present |
| Career | |
| Current group | The Royal Ballet |
| Former groups | Dresden Semperoper Ballett |
Melissa Hamilton (born 2 August 1989) is a Northern Irish ballet dancer and a First Soloist with the Royal Ballet, London. [1]
Hamilton was born in Belfast and spent most of her childhood in Dromore, County Down. Her father is a builder and her mother is a pre-school teacher. Her sister is an architect and her brother is a primary school teacher. [2] She started dancing at age four. She attended Dromore Primary School and Banbridge Academy, and left the latter after she finished her GCSEs. [3] Until that point, the only training Hamilton had were once-a-week classes. At age 16, she was awarded a scholarship and entered Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham, where she trained for two years. During her first year, she was told she would not be able to catch up. However, in her second year, she was taught by Masha Mukhamedov (wife of Irek Mukhamedov), who believed she could have a career in dance. When Mukhamedovs moved to Athens, Hamilton followed them to train privately with Masha for 10 months. [4] [5]
In 2007, at age 18, she competed at the Youth America Grand Prix to “test the water”, but ended up winning the competition. The YAGP prize is joining ABT II, American Ballet Theatre's second company. However, Hamilton did not want to move to New York, so Mukhamedov contacted Monica Mason, then artistic director of The Royal Ballet, to let her know Hamilton would send her a video of her dancing. Hamilton was invited to take classes with the company, and offered a contract to join the company as an Artist within a week after her victory at YAGP. She joined the company in 2007. The following year, despite being in the corps, she originated a role for Wayne McGregor's Infra, and has frequently collaborated with McGregor since. She was soon cast in Kenneth MacMillan's works such as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet , the title role in Manon and Mary Vetsera in Mayerling . [4] [5] [6] She was named First Artist in 2009, Soloist the following year and First Soloist in 2013. [1]
After Dresden Semperoper Ballett's Jiri Bubenicek suggested to have Hamilton partner him for his farewell performance in Manon, the directors of Royal Ballet and Semperoper Ballett negotiated and agreed to let Hamilton take a leave of absence to join Semperoper Ballett as a principal dancer. [4] She danced with the company during the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons. During her tenure in Dresden, she made several principal role debuts, including Nikiya in La Bayadere , Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty and Odette/Odile in Swan Lake . [1] She returned to The Royal Ballet in the 2017/18 season. [7]
Hamilton has also performed internationally, including Roberto Bolle's Italy tour and Mikhailovsky Ballet’s 85th anniversary in St Petersburg, partnering Bolle. [4]
Writing of Hamilton's performance as Juliet in Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet , The Observer's critic Luke Jennings wrote, "What really marks Hamilton out is the articulacy of her line. Here, she is all singing, expansive curves […] And if her acting can seem understated, it's never less than natural. In Act 3, she signals her unravelling with an immense weariness, and its final moments with a slow, sad unfurling of her arms." [8]
Hamilton's repertoire with The Royal Ballet and Semperoper Ballett includes: [1]
The Royal Ballet
| Created roles by Wayne McGregor
Semperoper Ballett
|
Hamilton is married to Michael Christou, a property developer, interior designer and cofounder of a property development company called 1.61 London. [3]
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.
Marianela Núñez is an Argentine-British ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, London.
Altynai Abduakhimkyzy Asylmuratova is a Kazakh-born former ballerina who is artistic director of the ballet company at Astana Opera. She is a former prima ballerina with the Kirov Ballet and a guest artist all over the world.
Aurélie Dupont is a French ballet dancer who performed with the Paris Opera Ballet as an Étoile.
Alessandra Ferri OMRI is an Italian prima ballerina. She danced with the Royal Ballet (1980–1984), American Ballet Theatre (1985–2007) and La Scala Theatre Ballet (1992–2007) and as an international guest artist, before temporally retiring on 10 August 2007, aged 44, then returning in 2013. She was eventually granted the rank of prima ballerina assoluta.
Roberto Bolle is an Italian danseur. He is currently a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre and a principal dancer étoile at La Scala Theatre Ballet. Bolle also dances regularly as a guest artist with the world’s leading companies, including The Royal Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet.
Sarah Van Patten is an American ballet dancer. She began an apprenticeship at the Royal Danish Ballet at age 15. In 2001, at age 17, she became the youngest ever dancer to receive a contract at the company. Later that year, she joined the San Francisco Ballet as a soloist, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2007. She retired from ballet in 2022.
Maria Olegovna Kochetkova is a Russian ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet between 2007 and 2018, and with the American Ballet Theatre between 2015 and 2017. After that, she became a freelance dancer for several years, before joining the Finnish National Ballet in the 2020/21 season.
Mara Galeazzi is an Italian ballet dancer actress and choreographer.She was a Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet.
Laura Morera is a Spanish ballet dancer who was a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet until her retirement in 2023.
Viviana Durante is an Italian ballet dancer, considered one of the great dramatic ballerinas of recent times. She was a principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Teatro alla Scala and K-Ballet. She is the artistic director of English National Ballet School and of the Viviana Durante Company.
Irek Dzhavdatovich Mukhamedov OBE, is a Soviet-born British ballet dancer of Tatar origin who has danced with the Bolshoi Ballet and the Royal Ballet. Born in Kazan, he trained at the Moscow Choreographic Institute under the guidance of Alexander Prokofiev between 1970 and 1978. Upon graduation, he joined the Classical Ballet Company, where he spent three years touring around the world. It was with this company that he first danced Romeo, a role that was to become one of his most acclaimed. In 1981 he won the Grand Prix and gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow and was immediately invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet as a principal dancer, where he not only became Grigorovich's favourite danseur but went to become the youngest man ever to dance the leading role in Spartacus.
Georgina Parkinson was an English ballet dancer and ballet mistress. She joined The Royal Ballet in 1957 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1962. Best known for dancing 20th-century works, she was a frequent collaborator of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, and had also created roles for Frederick Ashton. In 1978, she accepted the invitation to become a ballet mistress at the American Ballet Theatre for a year, before assuming the position permanently in 1980. She also performed character roles with the American Ballet Theatre.
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.
Cynthia Harvey is an American former ballet dancer, ballet mistress and educator. She joined the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1974 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1982. In 1986, she joined The Royal Ballet, becoming the company's first American principal dancer. She returned to ABT two years later, and retired in 1996. She then started teaching and staging ballets across the world. Between 2016 and 2022, she was the artistic director of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, the affiliated school of ABT.
Jeffrey Cirio is an American ballet dancer. He joined the Boston Ballet in 2009, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2012. In 2015, he moved to the American Ballet Theatre as a soloist, and was promoted to principal dancer the following year. In 2018, he joined the English National Ballet as a principal dancer. He will return to Boston Ballet in the 2022/23 season.
Carlo Di Lanno is an Italian ballet dancer. He is a former Principal Dancer with the San Francisco Ballet and Dresden Semperoper Ballett. He trained and graduated at Accademia Teatro alla Scala, and danced with Teatro alla Scala and Staatsballett Berlin.
Fumi Kaneko is a Japanese ballet dancer. She joined the Royal Ballet in London in 2011, and was named a principal dancer in 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.
Anna Ol is a Russian ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer in the Dutch National Ballet.