Interview with Xander Parish OBE

Named by Variety Magazine as one of their “10 Brits to Watch 2025,” we were delighted to catch up with Covent Garden Dance Company favourite, Xander Parish, to discover more about his recent acting debut and who he will be partnering at Ballet Under The Stars, 2025.

Biography:
Xander was born in East Yorkshire, England, and began dancing in Hull at the age of 8. He graduated from the Royal Ballet School in 2005 and joined The Royal Ballet in Covent Garden. In 2010, Xander made history as the first British dancer to join The Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was promoted to Principal dancer in July 2017 after the opening night of Swan Lake during the Mariinsky Ballet’s London season at Covent Garden.

His awards include the Positano Premia La Danza Léonide Massine Emerging Dancer on the International Scene Award, Best Young Male Dancer at the 1st Taglioni European Ballet Awards, and Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) for Apollo at the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. In 2017, the University of Hull awarded Xander an Honorary Doctorate, and in 2019, he was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for services to dance and UK-Russia Cultural Relations. In 2025, he was knighted by the Royal Order of Francis I of the Two Sicilies for achievements in the arts.

Photo credit: Carla Rhea

Xander has been a guest artist with companies including the Kremlin Ballet, Stanislavsky Ballet, English National Ballet, Opera National Bucharest, and American Ballet Theatre. In 2021, he launched the ballet training platform balletclass.com. From 2022 until 2024, he performed with the Norwegian National Ballet as a Principal Dancer. In November 2023, the company invited him to create and stage his own version of Raymonda Act III, titled “Raymonda Suite,” for 26 dancers.

In September 2022, Xander became Artistic Director of Reunited in Dance and has staged performances in prestigious venues internationally, beginning with the Segerstrom Centre for the Arts in Orange County, Festival Napa Valley, and most recently Teatro della Pergola in Florence as part of the New Generation Festival.

What you are currently working on aside from preparing for Ballet Under The Stars?

Back in September 2024, I made my acting debut in a new play called "The Gates of Kyiv" based on the life of the Soviet pianist Maria Yudina. It was my first time speaking on stage acting opposite Stockard Channing and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This play had its try out period at the Theatre Royal Windsor and now the producers want to transfer the production to the West End. I'm currently waiting for the dates to be fixed, but I hope that this will be one of my next projects.

Can you please tell me how long you have been working with the Covent Garden Dance Company?

That's a great question! I've had the pleasure of knowing Matt for quite a long time now and he's become not just someone I love working with but a great friend too. I think I worked with Covent Garden Dance Company for the first time in early 2018 when Matt put on a fabulous show in Dubai.

What is special about the Covent Garden Dance Company - what makes you return for more?!

Well that's easy - Matt! He's not just a great person to work with but always gives the artists a good time. Also, he doesn't just create a good show, he brings together a really nice group of people so it's always fun to be involved in his productions. 

Photo credit: Andrej Uspenski

What are you looking forward to most about performing at Hatch House again?

Dancing in the British countryside is something absolutely unique and special - even when it's occasionally wet it has a charm so irresistible that one can only want to return for more, and that goes for the audience as well as the performers! I'm certainly looking forward to returning again. 

Xander & Katya dancing George Balanchine’s Diamonds at Hatch House, 2024

What will you be performing and with whom?

This year, I'm bringing a new ballerina to Hatch House - Joy Womack. Joy and I have been friends for many years having met in Russia. Joy has quite an extraordinary story of her own as the first American ballerina to graduate from Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet Academy and join the Bolshoi Theatre. The expat community in Russia was extremely small during the time I was working in St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre so naturally Joy and I became friends. She's a ballerina of great tenacity and I've been delighted to include her in the performances which I have curated and staged for Reunited in Dance around the world.

I'm very happy that, thanks to Matt, I now have the opportunity to introduce Joy to Hatch House and vice versa! We will be performing two beautiful classic pieces - an extract from Fokine’s “Firebird” and the Rose Adage from act 1 of "The Sleeping Beauty" (helped out by a few other cavaliers from amongst the cast!)

When you’re dancing these works how does it make you feel, what do you hope the audience feels?

I believe that ballet is an extension of the music and it's the music that creates the feelings and atmosphere that the dancing thrives within. It was George Balanchine who said, "See the music, hear the dance", and how right he was. I love ballet because I get the opportunity to perform within these amazing pieces of music. I feel it and I hope the audience does too.

Photo credit:Natasha Razina

You will be performing alongside some wonderful artists from all around the world this year, who are you most looking forward to dancing alongside?

There will be a fair few of my former colleagues from The Royal Ballet performing so I shall look forward to catching up with them.

Many children will be coming to watch the rehearsal on the 24th July - how important are these opportunities for future generations of dancers?

Some of those children could be the part of the next generation of professional dancers so it is extremely important that they have the opportunity to watch and discover this extraordinary art form at a young age. Even for those who will not go on to be professionals, it will shape their development as they grow and learn so I believe it is very important.

Can you tell us three things people don’t know about you?

I have a great love of photography and I especially love using 35mm film. I actually had an exhibition in St Petersburg of backstage photos that I took at the Mariinsky Theatre which was great fun to organise!

I run a website called balletclass.com where I invite my colleagues from around the ballet world to teach their own ballet and training classes. I set it up during the pandemic as I wanted to gain some skills in entrepreneurship and learn how business works. It's been a side project ever since, from which I've learned many useful lessons.

I have a dog, a white multipoo called Winston. He may be little in size, but he has a big personality and has the big name to match!

Interview with Joy Womack

After the red carpet rounds of the Amazon Prime hit series, Étoile, and performing Firebird with Xander Parish in Italy, we had the delight of interviewing Joy Womack to discover more about her upcoming appearance at Hatch House.

Joy Womack is an internationally acclaimed American ballerina based in Paris. She made history as the first American woman to join the Bolshoi Ballet as a full company member after graduating from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy.

At age 19, she became a principal dancer with the Kremlin Ballet, launching an international career that has taken her to major stages across Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States.

A prizewinner at prestigious competitions including the Varna International Ballet Competition, the Moscow International Ballet Competition, and the Korea International Ballet Competition, Joy has performed leading roles in both classical and contemporary repertoire.

Photo credit: Jon Taylor

As well as appearing as a featured dancer on the Amazon Prime series Étoile, Joy’s life has been the subject of two films: Joy Womack: The White Swan (a documentary) and Joika (a Hollywood adaptation of her story). In 2025, Joy released her memoir Behind the Red Curtain, co-written with journalist Elizabeth Shockman, offering a rare and honest look inside the world of elite ballet.

Joy is the founder of the Joy Womack Ballet Foundation (JWBF), a non-profit organisation committed to supporting emerging dancers through scholarships, outreach, and cultural exchange. JWBF also produces The Joy of Dance, a gala concert series with live music that brings world-class ballet to new audiences while raising funds for artistic and humanitarian causes.

Can you please tell us what you are currently rehearsing or performing?

I was thrilled to recently perform in Xander Parish’s Ballet Russes production in Florence as part of the New Generation Festival. It was a joy to dance works such as Chopiniana, Firebird, and the Tarantella from Raymonda. I’m now eagerly preparing for Ballet Under the Stars at Hatch House, as well as an international festival in the Philippines, where I hope to perform Roland Petit’s Carmen Pas de Deux and the second act of Swan Lake as the White Swan.

How was it stepping onto the Étoile stage? What was your favourite moment during filming?

Bringing ballet to the screen was both a wonderful challenge and a rewarding experience. One of my favourite moments was filming the gala scene at the Théâtre de la Chalet in Paris. I also loved working with Amy and Dan on a scene where I got to deliver a line in Russian. It was great fun to explore character work on camera.

Photo credit: Bjorn Bonig

What motivated you to join the Covent Garden Dance Company for Ballet Under The Stars, this July?

I was incredibly touched by the invitation. I’ve long admired the dancers who have performed at Hatch House in years past, and it feels like a dream come true to share the stage with Xander Parish. I have not had the privilege of performing in the UK often, and dancing for British audiences holds a special place in my heart.

What are you most looking forward to about performing at Hatch House?

I’m especially excited to perform for new audiences in such a unique setting. There’s something wonderful about dancing in a setting that feels rich in history. Being part of a performance series that is building a meaningful legacy is an honour. I look forward to meeting people who truly love and support ballet.

Photo credit: Masha Kulch

What will you be performing, and with whom?

I’ll be dancing the Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty and Firebird; both alongside Xander Parish.

Why did you choose these pieces?

Xander has a wonderful artistic eye, and I was excited to take on the repertoire he proposed. Firebird is rarely performed in the West, and I think it’s important to keep these historic works alive. Given that both Xander and I spent significant time performing in Russia, it feels especially meaningful to bring a piece like Firebird to new audiences.

When you’re dancing these works, how do they make you feel—and what do you hope the audience feels?

Firebird is a new role for me, so I’ve been immersed in the process of researching the character and shaping my own interpretation. The Rose Adagio is always a technical challenge, but the music fills me with a sense of joy and celebration. I hope the audience feels the richness of these pieces; the tradition, the emotion, and the storytelling behind the steps.

You’ll be performing alongside wonderful artists from all over the world—who are you most looking forward to watching?

It’s such a privilege to be surrounded by so many inspiring dancers. I remember seeing Sarah Lamb perform years ago at the Kremlin Ballet International Festival—her work ethic and artistry left a lasting impression, and I’m excited to see her again. I’ve also admired Lauren Cuthbertson for years, so to watch her live is a dream. I hear I’ll be dancing Rose Adagio with William Bracewell as one of my cavaliers, and I’m really looking forward to working together.

Many children will attend the rehearsal on 24 July—how important are opportunities like this for the next generation of dancers?

Seeing live dance as a child is essential. It develops artistic sensitivity and shows young people what’s possible. Sadly, fewer children today have the chance to attend live performances, so initiatives like this are incredibly important. Giving children access to professional dance helps communicate the value of the arts and may even spark the dreams of the next generation of performers.

What is your favourite role to dance?

So far, I would say Romeo and Juliet and Giselle have been my favourites. A dream role for the future would be Raymonda or Manon.

Can you tell us three things people may not know about you?

I come from a family of nine children.

I have a toy poodle named Rachmaninov—named after my favourite composer.

And I absolutely love to host dinner parties and cook for friends and family.

Interview with EKLEIDO

As they rehearse their new The Dicky Buckle charity funded piece, we caught up with ekleido to share a little more about this year’s guest artists and the exciting two choreographic works they will perform.

ekleido is a choreographic duo made up of Hannah Ekholm and Faye Stoeser who choreograph for live performance and film. They have both individually had extensive dance careers within the contemporary dance world, commercial industry and underground club/street dance scenes.

Their work takes influences from both their vocabularies combining contemporary dance and underground club/battle styles including New Way Voguing, bone-breaking and threading. 

Photo credit: Jack Thomson

Their work has been performed at venues and festivals including Glastonbury Festival, Breakin’ Convention at Sadler’s Wells, Latitude Festival, Ballet Nights at Ministry of Sound, Secret Garden Party, The Place, Lilian Baylis, Dance Festival Croydon, Fairfield Halls, Stanley Arts, Dance.Film.Performance.

Photo credit: Jay Norman

Can you please tell us how you came to be working with Covent Garden Dance Company this summer?

Faye had been working with Rambert School students on a graduation piece and met Matt (Director of Covent Garden Dance) at a student showcase at the school and got chatting about Ekleido and the work we do as a dance company. We then invited board members of Covent Garden Dance to an open rehearsal of our piece SPLICE, and they took a liking to our work and invited us to perform at Hatch House.

What will you be dancing?

We will be performing SPLICE, a duet performed and choreographed by both of us and that has been touring to theatre and non theatre spaces such as music festivals for the last two years. This piece is our inaugural work as a choreographic duo. It came about after we both started pursuing choreography careers separately and serendipitously had been asked to create something individually for the same event; we decided spontaneously to create something together. The work received enthusiastic audience responses and further programming; and our collaboration flowed effortlessly through bringing together our unique backgrounds of contemporary dance with club dance influences which led us to create Ekleido.

The Dicky Buckle Fund also commissioned us to create a new work CLINQUANT which will also be a duet choreographed and performed by us both. CLINQUANT will delve into the tension between allure and authenticity, named after the word meaning glittering with deceptive beauty.

Photo credit: Deborah Jaffe

What has been your favourite moment whilst preparing for CGDC?

It always feels like a privilege to be given support to create new work, as it gives us the chance to develop as creatives. We are currently in a place in our choreographic practice where we feel like we’ve established a movement language that feels distinctive, so we are always eager to continue to push its boundaries further as well as delving into emotional arcs within our works. With the creative process of  CLINQUANT we have particularly enjoyed playing with musicality and playing into our feminine expression.

What inspired you to create this piece?

We are interested in exploring near perfect symmetry, and whilst remaining abstract in our narrative, we wanted to invite audiences to perceive their own meaning through the shapes we create with our bodies. We are fascinated by pushing the physical body to its limits leaving the dancers to have to rely on each other, as well as figuring out the efficiency as a pair. 

For SPLICE we were both really interested in how our backgrounds in contemporary dance and New Way Vogue could be incorporated into partner work, which is very much what the piece explores.

For CLINQUANT we were inspired by the power of femininity and the contrasts between order and chaos. Named after the word meaning glittering with deceptive beauty, it becomes a metaphor for the polished roles women are often expected to inhabit: captivating on the outside, but concealing strain, silence, and complexity beneath.

Photo credit: Henry Curtis

When you’re dancing this piece how does it make you feel?

SPLICE is a precise and technical duet which requires extreme focus so as not to miss a beat and to ensure the partnering is executed seamlessly. We have found that the times we have most enjoyed performing this work are when we use each other as support both physically and mentally, and allow the music to drive us. 

We haven’t performed CLINQUANT yet, however dancing it in the studio we definitely feel a sense of power and elegance, and we hope we can experience that feeling on stage too.

What do you hope the audience will feel/take away from your performance?

For SPLICE, we hope the audience will feel mesmerised, perhaps as though they've witnessed magic through the shapes and contortions we create; and inspired to get up and dance themselves due to the energetic movement and music.

For CLINQUANT, we hope audiences will feel a sense of femininity and empowerment from us, as well as being entranced by our movement.

Tell us about the piece of music you are using?

For SPLICE we’re dancing to an electronic track created by Floating Points - who’s known for creating innovative and cutting edge music. He recently created the ballet  ‘Mere Mortals’ for San Francisco Ballet. 

CLINQUANT has new music created by Ela Minus, Stella Mozgawa and Floating Points; a really exciting collaboration with three incredible artists.

How important are charities like the Dicky Buckle Fund for the future of dance?

Charities like Dicky Buckle Fund, gives new and upcoming artists opportunities to create and perform new work, which enables dance artists to continue to innovate, develop their practice and provide dance excellence to audiences. There is often limited funding for the dance sector, so charities like The Dicky Buckle Fund are crucial in keeping the dance sector alive.

Photo credit: Sophie Giddens

Where will you be taking this piece next?

SPLICE upcoming performances include Glastonbury Festival, Ballet Nights at Theatre Royal Glasgow, as well as touring in a double bill of our work ‘SPLICE | RORSCHACH’ to theatre and rural venues across the UK. CLINQUANT will also be performed in Ballet Nights at Ministry of Sound in the Autumn and we have exciting international interest for our work to be announced soon! 

You will be performing alongside some incredible artists from all around the world, who are you most looking forward to watching perform?

Having performed alongside Gareth Haw previously at Ballet Nights, it will be lovely to watch him again as he’s such a phenomenal dancer. We are of course excited to see everyone as it’s a stellar line up of artists. 

Photo credit: Genevieve Reeves

What do you like most about performing outside of the traditional theatre or studio?

There’s something more relaxed about it, and you can really feel that through the audience which is fun. We are both really used to dancing in unconventional spaces through Voguing and street dance, and it’s often where we see new people get introduced to dance which is lovely. 

Can you tell us three things people don’t know about you – fun facts perhaps?

Faye’s dad was in the band ‘The Foundations’ who famous hit was ‘Build Me Up Buttercup.’

Hannah was a competitive Ice Skater before going to dance school. 

As ekleido we work collaboratively, however in the Ballroom battle scene we’re competing in different teams (therefore we are also enemies!)

Interview with Gareth Haw

Photo credit: Andrew Seidel

Welsh born, Gareth Haw, trained in Chepstow before joining the Royal Ballet Lower and Upper School. Upon graduation, Gareth joined the Semperoper Ballett Dresden in 2015, where he grew through the ranks, before joining the English National Ballet as a First Soloist in 2023. He was promoted to Principal in 2024.

Gareth has danced Principal roles in Watkin and Smith’s Nutcracker; Watkin’s Swan Lake, La Bayadere and Sleeping Beauty; Watkin and Beechey’s The Nutcracker; Dawson’s Giselle. Soloist roles in Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Symphony in C, and Four Temperaments; Forsythe’s The Second Detail, Artifact, and New Suite; Graham’s Errand into the Maze; Inger’s Walking Mad, and Carmen; Bausch’s Iphigenia auf Tauris; Ashton’s The Dream; Peck’s Heatscape; Ekman’s COW. His created roles include Paris, in Dawson’s Romeo and Juliet; Winter Principal Couple in Dawson’s The Four Seasons.

Gareth, can you tell us what you are currently rehearsing and performing?

I have been pretty busy of late performing as the Prince in Sleeping Beauty and I have just returned from Romania where I performed Giselle Act II and Metamorphosis by David Dawson. I also had the honour of performing the UK première of Slingerland Duet by William Forsythe.

Photo credit: Yoonsik Kim

What made you decide to join the Covent Garden Dance Company and perform at Hatch House this July?

I have been following CGDC for the past two years and really love the ethos. In February I was unable to join the Bahamas cast, but there was no way I could turn down the opportunity to dance with Lauren Cuthbertson. There is only one answer to that question! I have idolised her since I was in school and it was a dream opportunity.

What will you and Lauren be dancing?

We will be performing a double debut! We are both very keen to dance Le Parc as we saw the Paris Opera Ballet performing it a long time ago. We also will be performing Florent Malec’s beautiful piece Moonlight. There is such meaning behind both works that we both wanted to perform them for the first time.

What do you hope people feel when watching you?

If we manage to captivate an audience for a brief moment in time, enable them to forget the day to day, we will have done our job.

Photo credit: Yoonsik Kim

What excites you most about performing at Hatch House?

I love that it is not a conventional setting. Being outdoors rather than in a standard theatre in a big city, brings a different energy to the performance, it changes the atmosphere of the piece and it brings a different style of performance. I can’t wait.

You’ll be performing alongside some incredible artists, who are you most excited to watch?

William Bracewell. He is an extremely unique artist and what he represents as a male dancer is unique; he makes every role his own. It helps that he is also from Wales! I think we are the only two Welsh Principal dancers and that is something lovely. I am a massive fan and have been since I first saw him dance when I was 9 years old. It will be a full circle moment to dance alongside William.

Many children will be coming to watch the rehearsal on the 24th July - how important are these opportunities for future generations of dancers?

I experienced that thrill of watching professional dancers on stage when I was little. I grew up in rural Wales and I remember when I first watched the Royal Ballet perform. It is so important that we branch out of cities to expose a younger generation, include and inspire them. It is our responsibility to ensure ballet is not an elitist form but an accessible art.

What is your favourite role to dance?

I have performed as Albrecht in Giselle recently and it is a key pillar in classical ballet but it also explored the human emotional journey. Male dancers are often in white tights, but Albrecht’s emotional journey allows us to dance with freedom. Albrecht is my favourite role.

Can you share something people don’t know about you?

Before ballet, I was a slalom ski racer and I speak fluent German!

Interview with William Bracewell

After an unforgettable run of dancing Romeo to Marianela Nunez’s Juliet, we had the great privilege of interviewing Royal Ballet Principal Dancer, William Bracewell, before he dives down the rabbit hole into Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Photo credit: Unknown

Welsh dancer William Bracewell joined The Royal Ballet as a Soloist in 2017 and was promoted to First Soloist in 2018, Principal in 2022. Born in Swansea. William trained at the Pamela Miller Ballet School and, from the age of 11, at The Royal Ballet School. Whilst a student, he won the 2007 Young British Dancer of the Year Award and the grand prix at the 2010 Youth America Grand Prix. He joined Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2010, promoted to first artist in 2012 and to soloist in 2014.

His repertory with The Royal Ballet and BRB includes Des Grieux, Oberon, Polixenes and Florizel (The Winter's Tale) Lead roles in Requiem, The Dante Project, Hamlet and Ophelia, Romeo, Prince Siegfried (Swan Lake), Prince (The Nutcracker), Franz (Coppélia), Oberon (The Dream), The Prince (Cinderella), Ferdinand (The Tempest), Salamander Prince (David Bintley’s The Prince of the Pagodas), First Seminarian (Carmina Burana), Prince Florimund (The Sleeping Beauty) pas de six (Giselle), Rajah/Caterpillar (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), Ted Feltham (The Unknown Soldier), Kulygin (Winter Dreams), Beliaev (A Month in the Country), Dr John Brown (Like Water for Chocolate) and roles in Woolf Works, Dances at a Gathering, Symphonic Variations, Tombeaux, Obsidian Tear, Les Rendezvous, Elite Syncopations, ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café, Theme and Variations, Untouchable, Sylvia, Asphodel Meadows, Corybantic Games and DGV: Danse à grande vitesse.

William Bracewell as Prince Siegfried & Akane Takada as Odile in Swan Lake at the Royal Ballet & Opera House
Photo credit: unknown

His role creations for BRB included Le roi soleil (Bintley’s The King Dances), Alexander Whitley’s Kin and Jessica Lang’s Lyric Pieces. He has created roles for The Royal Ballet in Jessica Lang's Twinkle, Untitled 2023, Yugen, Corybantic Games, Dispatch Duet and The Weathering.

Bracewell's other awards include Best Male Dancer 2023 and Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) 2015 from Critics' Circle National Dance Awards.

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William, can you tell us what you are currently rehearsing and performing? 

It’s nearing the end of our season here at the Royal Ballet & Opera House and the final thing I’m performing here is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I’m also creating a new ballet with Cathy Marsden that will premiere in November 2025.

Photo credit: William Muir.

Can you please tell us what motivated you to join the Covent Garden Dance Company to perform at Hatch House this July?

It’s rare that I get to perform in such a beautiful part of the world so I was thrilled to be asked. Having danced with Sarah Lamb last summer, I was also incredibly keen to continue forming our relatively new dancing relationship.

What are you looking forward to most about performing at Hatch House?

I can’t wait to see the house and gardens and of course share the stage with Sarah both in repertoire we know well and something totally new to myself. I also cannot wait to see the gardens for the first time. After dancing, my second love is horticulture and gardening. I find it such a therapy and escape, if there is any help needed in the garden I’ll be there!

Photo credit: Alice Pennefather

What will you be performing and why did you choose these pieces?

Myself and Sarah Lamb will be dancing an excerpt from La Bayadère and Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella pas de deux. Cinderella is a firm favourite of mine; the precision and detail all Ashton works combined with his musicality is such a joy to perform. I feel Sarah is an absolute master of this way of moving. La Bayadère is new to me, so I’m looking forward to the challenge of tackling something quite different.

When you’re dancing these works, what do you hope the audience feels?

These pieces are quite different from one another so hopefully the audience will be able to take away the contrast and versatility of our dancing. 

You will be performing alongside some wonderful artists from all around the world, who are you most looking forward to watching perform?

I always love seeing people dance that I haven’t before.

Many children will be coming to watch the rehearsal on the 24th July - how important are these opportunities for future generations of dancers?

Seeing dancers of the Royal Ballet perform was what made me want to start dancing more seriously, so I know how important these experiences are.

Photo credit: Alice Pennefather

What is your favourite role to dance?

It’s a tough question but probably of the classical ballets it would have to be Romeo and Juliet or Manon but there are too many to chose from…

Can you tell me three things people don’t know about you – fun facts perhaps?

• I am an excellent whistler (to some people’s annoyance).

• I built all the door frames and doors in my current flat (yes they are a little wonky)

• And my YouTube rabbit hole is electric car videos.

If you are yet to book your seats to watch William Bracewell and Sarah Lamb dance at Hatch House 2025, don’t delay, tickets are selling fast.

Interview with Sarah Lamb

Having just completed a run of sublime performances at the Royal Ballet & Opera House as Juliet in Kenneth Macmillan’s Romeo & Juliet, and ahead of her debut appearance at Hatch House 25-27 July, 2025, we were delighted to interview Principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, Sarah Lamb.

Sarah is an internationally acclaimed Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet. She joined the company in 2004 as a first soloist and was promoted to principal after eighteen months.

Photo credit - Andrej Uspenski

Sarah’s roots lead back to Massachusetts. She was born in Boston and trained with Madame Tatiana Nicolaevna Legat at the Boston Ballet School. In 1998 she was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and awarded a gold medal by President Clinton and performed Sleeping Beauty Act III at the Kennedy Center in 1998. Her many awards include three silver medals at the Third Japan International Ballet Competition in Nagoya (1999), the USA International Ballet Competition (2002). She was awarded the highest medal at the New York International Ballet Competition (2000).

Lamb’s repertory with the Company includes all the leading roles in the classical, dramatic and contemporary repertories as well as the masterpieces of Sir Frederick Ashton and Sir Kenneth McMillan. She created the title role in Wayne McGregor’s Raven Girl and roles in his ballets Carbon Life, Live Fire Exercise, Limen, Chroma, Tetractys, Woolf Works, Multiverse, Yugen and The Dante Project. She also has created roles for the Company in Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale and Electric Counterpoint, Ratmansky’s 24 Preludes, David Dawson’s The Human Seasons and Twyla Tharp’s Illustrated ‘Farewell’.

Sarah has performed at the World Ballet Festival in Tokyo in 2015, 2018 and 2024 and is known by audiences across the globe. In 2023 Sarah received the Positano award for Best Female Dancer.

We cannot wait to watch Sarah grace the Hatch House stage on 25, 26 & 27 July 2025.

Photo credit - Andrej Uspenski

What you are currently rehearsing or performing?

I just finished Romeo and Juliet and am preparing for some performances in Mexico in a couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to performing in Mexico again; it has been several years since I was there.

What motivated you to join the Covent Garden Dance Company to perform at Hatch House this July?

William Bracewell invited me, and I will always jump at an opportunity to dance with William! We performed for the first time together last summer at the World Ballet Festival, and we had a wonderful partnership, I'm looking forward to dancing together again this summer.

What will you be performing?

William and I are performing Ashton's Cinderella pas de deux, which we performed last summer in Tokyo, and an excerpt from Marius Petipa’s Shades Pas de Deux, from La Bayadère, which is a ballet William hasn't previously performed. 

Photo credit - Andrej Uspenski

What are you looking forward to most about performing at Hatch House?

It's always interesting to perform somewhere new, we are always in London so there are many parts of the UK that I have never seen! 

When you’re dancing these works how does it make you feel, what do you hope the audience feels?

Prokofiev's music for the Cinderella pas de deux in Act 2 is sublime and I hope the audience feels the same as I do when I perform. It is glorious. The pas de deux from La Bayadère is one of longing. Nikiya is a vision to Solor, and he is reunited with her in this otherworldly realm. She needs to exude these qualities of intangible beauty.

You will be performing alongside some wonderful artists from all around the world, who are you most looking forward to watching perform?

I don't know the final cast list but it will be exciting to see some familiar faces or meet new artists!

Photo credit - Andrej Uspenski

Many children will be coming to watch the rehearsal on the 24th July - how important are these opportunities for future generations of dancers?

I think rehearsals are a wonderful way to introduce new audiences. I think rehearsals can be more interesting to watch than performances! Young dancers especially feel closer to the work and the art, and it is so unique to be able to do what you love - for a young dancer to realise his/her dream is edifying. 

What is your favourite role to dance?

That's not a fair question there are too many!

Can you tell us three things people don’t know about you?

I love to read, and I take time every day to read the New Yorker Magazine. 

I used to love drawing, and I still do from time to time though I am not good at finding time for it.

I still don't have a driver's license which is rather remarkable as I lived in America until I was in my early 20s! 

Photo credit - Andrej Uspenski.