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.
Daria Klimentová is a Czech retired ballet dancer, ballet teacher and photographer. She spent most of her career as a lead principal dancer at English National Ballet. She is currently a teacher at the Royal Ballet Upper School.
Anik Bissonnette OC CQ is a Canadian ballet dancer. She started her professional ballet career with the Ballet de Montreal Eddy Toussaint in the 1980s. She was a principal dancer beginning in 1990 with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Her father, Jean Bissonnette, was a famous television director with Télévision de Radio-Canada.
Alina Cojocaru is a Romanian ballet dancer. She was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet and a lead principal with the English National Ballet.
English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet, it is one of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain. English National Ballet is one of the foremost touring companies in Europe, performing in theatres throughout the UK as well as conducting international tours and performing at special events. The Company employs approximately 67 dancers and a symphony orchestra,. In 1984 Peter Schaufuss became director and changed the name to English National Ballet and founded the school English National Ballet School, which is independent from the ballet company but joining the company premises in the new building. The Company regularly performs seasons at the London Coliseum and has been noted for specially staged performances at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2014 English National Ballet became an Associate Company of Sadler's Wells.
San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, and effective December 2022 under the direction of Tamara Rojo. It is among the world's leading dance companies, presenting more than 100 performances annually, with a repertoire that spans both classical and contemporary ballet. Along with American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet has been described as part of the "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today."
Marianela Núñez is an Argentine-British ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, London.
Maina Gielgud is a British former ballet dancer and a veteran ballet administrator. She was artistic director of The Australian Ballet from 1983 to 1996. She had a twenty-year career as a dancer in Europe and the United Kingdom. Gielgud directed the Royal Danish Ballet between 1997 and 1999. Until 2005, she held the artistic associate position at the Houston Ballet. She is a daughter of Lewis Gielgud and actress Zita Gordon and niece of actor Sir John Gielgud.
Beverly Jane Fry is an Australian ballerina.
Galina Samsova was a Russian ballet dancer and company director.
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.
Esteban Berlanga is a Spanish ballet dancer and a principal dancer with the Compañía Nacional de Danza, Madrid.
Greg Horsman is an Australian ballet choreographer, teacher, and retired dancer. In 2022, Dance Magazine Australia described him as "formerly one of the Australian Ballet's most poetic and classical of principal artists." He and his then-wife Lisa Pavane were a popular partnership during the 1980s and early 1990s, with the Washington Post referring to their "conspicuously poised, elegant dancing" and the New York Times calling them "two perfectly trained and appealing first-class dancers" during a performance of Giselle. Horsman has been Assistant Artistic Director Queensland Ballet since 2023 and was previously the Chief Ballet Master and Director of Artistic Operations for the Queensland Ballet since 2013.
Isaac Eleazar Hernández Fernández is a Mexican ballet dancer and actor who is a lead principal with the English National Ballet.
Jurgita Dronina is a Russian-Lithuanian ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, having previously danced with Royal Swedish Ballet, Dutch National Ballet and English National Ballet.
Stephen Jefferies is a retired ballet dancer, artistic director and choreographer. He was a senior principal dancer for The Royal Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada.
Stella Abrera is a Filipina-American ballet dancer. She danced as a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre until her retirement in 2020, and is the company's first Filipina principal ballerina. She then became the artistic director of the dance cultural park Kaatsbaan, and in September 2022 took up the role of artistic director of the ABT JKO School. following Cynthia Harvey's departure in May.
Age Oks known professionally as Agnes Oaks, is an Estonian former ballet dancer, who was a principal dancer with English National Ballet.
Francesca Velicu is a Romanian ballet dancer. She is a junior soloist at the English National Ballet. In 2018, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.
Aaron S. Watkin is a Canadian ballet company director and former dancer. He became the artistic director of the English National Ballet in 2023.
