Liam Scarlett (8 April 198616 April 2021) was a British

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

who was an artist in residence with

The Royal Ballet 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 ...

and artistic associate with Queensland Ballet. He also choreographed new works for Ballet Black,

Miami City Ballet Miami City Ballet is an American ballet company based in Miami Beach, Florida, led by artistic director Gonzalo Garcia. MCB was founded in 1985 by Toby Lerner Ansin, a Miami philanthropist. Ansin and the founding board hired Edward Villella ...

, Norwegian National Ballet, the

BalletBoyz BalletBoyz or Ballet Boyz are a London-based all-male dance company. BalletBoyz was founded in 1999 by Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, both principal dancers with The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned cl ...

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 Scott ...

San Francisco Ballet 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 Fra ...

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...

Royal New Zealand Ballet The Royal New Zealand Ballet is a ballet company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was originally known as The New Zealand Ballet Company. History New Zealand Ballet was established in 1953 as an independent charitable trust by Royal Danis ...

, Atlanta Ballet, Polish National Ballet, and 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 ...

Early life

Scarlett was born on 8 April 1986 in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

, and started dancing aged four. He trained at the Linda Shipton School of Dancing in Ipswich, followed by the Royal Ballet Lower School, which he entered at the age of eight, and then the Upper School.

Choreographer

His first work for the main stage at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

was ''Asphodel Meadows'' in 2010. It was a work for 20 dancers set to Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos. In 2008, the work was commissioned by

's then director, Monica Mason, who was eager to develop his choreographic abilities. Scarlett is the youngest choreographer to have had a full-length ballet commissioned by the Royal Ballet.

Edward Villella Edward Villella (born October 1, 1936) is an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He is frequently cited as America's most celebrated male dancer of ballet at the time. He has won numerous awards, including the Daytime Emmy Award for Out ...

, the then director of

, saw the dress rehearsal and commissioned Scarlett there and then. ''Visceras critically acclaimed premiere took place in January 2012. As well as further work for the Royal Ballet and Miami City Ballet, Scarlett created new works for the Norwegian National Ballet, the

, the

, and the Polish National Ballet. In November 2012, aged 26, Scarlett gave up his dancing career as a first artist with

, to become their first artist in residence, a post created especially for him by the Ballet's director,

Kevin O'Hare Kevin Patrick O'Hare, CBE, (born 14 September 1965) is a British retired ballet dancer and current Director of The Royal Ballet. He succeeded Monica Mason in the role in 2012. Early life O’Hare was born in Kingston upon Hull to Northern Iris ...

. On 29 April 2014, Scarlett's ''Hummingbird'', inspired by

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

's '' Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra'' premiered at the San Francisco Ballet. In its review, ''

The Arts Desk ''The Arts Desk'' (theartsdesk.com) is a British arts journalism website containing reviews, interviews, news, and other content related to music, theatre, television, films, and other art forms written by journalists from a variety of tradition ...

'' website's critic thought that it stood "above offerings from Wheeldon, Morris and Liang," and that Scarlett created "a fabulous, compelling visual and emotional world ... stirring stuff, and beautiful." In August 2019, he was suspended by the Royal Ballet amid allegations of sexual misconduct against his students. An investigation found no evidence to corroborate the allegations and no criminal charges were brought against him. In March, the Royal Opera House announced Scarlett's position with the Royal Ballet had ended because he had decided to leave. Even after having been cleared the choreographer left the company nevertheless.

Personal life and death

At the time of his death, Scarlett was in a relationship with dancer Fernando Duarte. Scarlett died in his hometown of Ipswich on 16 April 2021, aged 35. No cause of death was given. However, his colleagues Dmitri Tcherniakov and

Alexei Ratmansky Alexei Osipovich Ratmansky (, born August 27, 1968) is a Russian-Ukrainian-American choreographer and former ballet dancer. From 2004 to 2008 he was the director of the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet. He left Russia in 2008. In 2009 he was appointed the ar ...

called his death a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

and blamed

cancel culture Cancel culture is a cultural phenomenon in which an individual thought to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner is ostracized, boycotted, shunned or fired, often aided by social media. This shunning may extend to social or professio ...

. A day before his death, the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

had cancelled his ''Frankenstein'' show over allegations of unacceptable behaviour in 2018 and 2019. An inquest later determined suicide.

Works

All for

, unless otherwise noted: *''Few Things Are'' (2005) *''Despite'' (2006) *''Vayamos al Diablo'' (2006) *''Hinterland'' (2006) ( Ballet Black) *''Indigo Children'' (2007) (Ballet Black) *''Somente'' (2007/8) *''Of Mozart'' (2008) *''Consolations and Liebestraum'' (2009) *''Asphodel Meadows'' (2010) *''Viscera'' (2012) (

) *''Sweet Violets'' (2012) *''Diana and Acteon'' in ''Metamorphosis: Titian'' (2012) *''Euphotic'' (2013) (Miami City Ballet) *''Hansel and Gretel'' (2013) *''Promenade Sentimentale'' (2013) ( K-Ballet) *''Serpent'' (2013) (

: The Talent) *''Firebird'' (2013) ( Norwegian National Ballet) *''Vespertine'' (2013) (Norwegian National Ballet) *''The Age of Anxiety'' (2014) *''Hummingbird'' (2014) (

) *''No Man's Land'' (2014) (English National Ballet) *''Acheron'' (2014) (

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

) *''With a Chance of Rain'' (2014) (American Ballet Theatre) *''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (2015) (Royal New Zealand Ballet and Queensland Ballet) *''Carmen'' (2015) (Norwegian National Ballet) *''Frankenstein'' (2016) *''Symphonic Dances'' (2017) *Queen of Spades (2018) (

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet ( Danish: ''Den Kongelige Ballet'') is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world a ...

) *''Swan Lake'' (2018) *''Chopin’s Concerto in E minor'' (2018) ( Polish National Ballet) *''Dangerous Liaisons'' (2019) ( Queensland Ballet and

Texas Ballet Theater The Texas Ballet Theater was founded by Margo Dean in 1961 as the Fort Worth Ballet Association, in Fort Worth, Texas. At the invitation of Dean, Fernando Schaffenburg was invited to direct the company the following year. It became a fully profes ...

) *''Die Toteninsel'' (2019) (San Francisco Ballet)

Awards

*Kenneth MacMillan Choreographic Award (2001) * Ursula Moreton Choreographic Award (2003 and 2004) *De Valois Trust Fund Choreographers' Award (2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scarlett, Liam 1986 births 2021 deaths English people of Irish descent British ballet choreographers British male ballet dancers Choreographers of The Royal Ballet English choreographers English male ballet dancers People educated at the Royal Ballet School Entertainers from Ipswich English LGBTQ dancers LGBTQ choreographers Suicides in England