Edward Watson MBE (born 21 May 1976) is a British

ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

. He is a retired principal dancer and currently a coach with the Royal Ballet in London.

Early years

Edward Watson was born in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and was brought up in

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

with his twin sister, Liz. He first attended dance classes at the age of 3, and was later accepted as a student at the

Royal Ballet School 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 ...

, eventually joining the full-time school at White Lodge, Richmond Park. Whilst at the school, he trained with Anatoly Grigoriev, a former dancer of the Kirov Ballet and was one of six male students who graduated into the Upper School at the age of 16. At the Upper School his teachers included German Zammel and Julie Lincoln. Whilst training at the Upper School, Watson danced a number of roles: *''Checkmate'' by Ninette de Valois, 1993 (Role: Black Castle) *''Simple Symphony'' by Matthew Hart, 1993 *''Monotones No. 2'' by

Frederick Ashton Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the oppositio ...

, 1994 *''Napoli'' by August Bournonville, 2004 (Role: Pas de Six)

Career

Watson graduated into The Royal Ballet in 1994 and was promoted to Principal in 2005. His repertory with the Company includes major roles in works by

and

Kenneth MacMillan Sir Kenneth MacMillan (11 December 192929 October 1992) 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. Ea ...

. His many role creations for Wayne McGregor include in ''Symbiont(s)'', ''Qualia'', '' Chroma'', ''Infra'', ''Limen'', ''Carbon Life'', ''Raven Girl'', ''Tetractys'', '' Woolf Works'', ''Obsidian Tear'' and ''Multiverse'', and for Christopher Wheeldon Lewis Carroll/The White Rabbit in '' Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)'', Leontes in '' The Winter’s Tale'' and John Singer Sargent in ''Strapless''. Watson has worked with numerous other choreographers, including Siobhan Davies, David Dawson, Javier de Frutos, Alastair Marriott, Cathy Marston, Ashley Page and Arthur Pita. In August 2020, it was announced that Watson would retire following a performance of McGregor's ''The Dante Project''. He has remained with the company as a coach. His official title is répétiteur to the principal dancers.

Awards

At the National Dance Awards in 2008, Watson won 'Best Male Dancer'. He also won the Olivier Award in 2012 for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for his performance as Gregor Samsa in Arthur Pita's interpretation of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

's ''Metamorphorsis'' at the Linbury Studio. In 2015 he won Prix Benois de la Danse for his performance as Leontes in Christopher Wheeldon '' The Winter's Tale'' at the Royal Ballet.

Honours

In the 2015 Birthday Honours, Watson was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to dance.United Kingdom:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Edward 1976 births British male ballet dancers People educated at the Royal Ballet School Morphoses dancers National Dance Award winners Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people People from Bromley Principal dancers of The Royal Ballet Members of the Order of the British Empire Prix Benois de la Danse winners People from Dartford