Michael Nunn OBE (born 1967) is a British ballet dancer, choreographer, and a television and film director/producer.
Michael Nunn was born in London in 1967, [1] the son of a builder. [2]
Nunn joined the Royal Ballet in 1987, and was promoted to first soloist in 1997. [3] His first big break was when Kenneth MacMillan chose him to dance the male lead, Crown Prince Rudolf , in Mayerling , [1] a role originally created on David Wall.
In 2001, together with principal dancer William Trevitt, he left to found the modern dance groups, BalletBoyz and George Piper Dances. [3]
Nunn now works as a choreographer with BalletBoyz and George Piper Dances. [3]
A 90-minute abridgment of Kenneth Macmillan's ballet Romeo and Juliet was produced by Michael Nunn and William Trevitt for BBC television and broadcast in 2020 on PBS. [4]
He is married, [2] and lives in Kew Gardens, London. [1]
Nunn is an ambassador for Borne, a medical research charity looking into the causes of premature birth. [5] In March 2019, Nunn hosted Borne to Dance with Darcey Bussell at the Royal Opera House to raise money for premature birth research. [6]
Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, is an English retired ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing.
The Royal Ballet is an 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 was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company.
Christopher Michael Gable, CBE was an English ballet dancer, choreographer and actor.
Tamara Rojo CBE is a Spanish ballet dancer. She is English National Ballet's artistic director and a lead principal dancer with the company. She was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet.
Marianela Núñez is an Argentine-British ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, London.
Sir Kenneth MacMillan was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Earlier he had served as director of ballet for the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He was also associate director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1984 to 1989, and artistic associate of the Houston Ballet from 1989 to 1992.
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.
Choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Royal Ballet production of Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 9 February 1965.
British ballet is most recognised for two leading methods, those of the Royal Ballet School and the Royal Academy of Dance. The identifying characteristic of British ballet is the focus on clean, precise technique and purity of line that is free of exaggeration and mannerisms. The training of dancers in Britain is noted for its slow progression, with a great deal of attention paid to basic technique. British ballet methods operate on the principle that establishing correct technique and strength slowly makes it much easier for the student to adapt to more difficult vocabulary and techniques later on.
Irek Dzhavdotovich 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.
Thiago Soares is a Brazilian ballet dancer. He is a former principal dancer with The Royal Ballet in London.
Jonathan Cope, CBE 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.
BalletBoyz or Ballet Boyz are a London-based all-male dance company.
Das Lied von der Erde is 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.
Tetsuya "Teddy" Kumakawa is a Japanese ballet dancer and a former principal dancer with the Royal Ballet.
Leonid Mikhailovich Lavrovsky (1905–1967) was a Russian ballet choreographer, most famous for choreographing the first full version of Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.
BBC Young Dancer is a televised national dance competition, broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Two since 2015. The competition, inspired by the success of the biennal BBC Young Musician of the Year, is designed for British amateur dancers of ballet, contemporary, hip hop and South Asian dance, all of whom must be aged between 16 and 20.
William James Piper Trevitt is a British ballet dancer and choreographer.
George Piper Dances is a London-based contemporary dance company.
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.