Simon Rice

Simon Rice trained at the Royal Ballet Schools before joining The Royal Ballet Company in 1982, becoming a First Soloist in 1989.

The Royal Ballet

He danced lead and supporting roles in choreographic works by:
*Sir Frederick Ashton: ''The Dream'' - Puck and Bottom, '' A Month in The Country'' - Kolya, ''Cinderella'' - The Jester, '' La Fille Mal Gardée'' - Alain, '' Les Patineurs'' - Blue Boy;
* Jerome Robbins: '' The Concert'' - The Shy Boy;
* Anthony Dowell: ''Swan Lake'' - The Neapolitan;
* Natalia Makarova: '' La Bayadère'' - The Bronze Idol;
*Sir Peter Wright: '' The Nutcracker'' - The Nutcracker and Fritz;
* David Bintley: ''Prometheus'' - The Creature, ''Sons of Horus'' - Hopi;
*Sir Kenneth MacMillan: '' Elite Syncopations'' - Alaskan Rag and Friday Night, '' Mayerling'' - Bratfisch, ''Prince of the Pagodas'' - The Fool, and '' The Rite of Spring'' - The Chosen One – the first male dancer to perform this role.

Other work

Shortly after going freelance in 1992 Rice danced in ''Carousel'' at The National Theatre and performed Mr. Mistoffelees in ''Cats''.

He worked extensively with Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre (1998 to 2007) appearing in ''Sunday Lunch'', ''Fragile'', ''The Flower Bed'', ''James, son of James'' and the award-winning ''Giselle''.

From 1999 to 2004 he danced as a guest artist for K-ballet in Japan, with roles in ''Wolfgang'', '' Don Quixote'', ''Swan Lake'' and '' The Sleeping Beauty''. For K-ballet he choreographed ''The Vary People'', performed in Japan and at the Festival dei Due Mondi, Spoleto, Italy.

In opera, Simon danced the role of Puck in '' The Fairy-Queen'' at the English National Opera in 1996 and 1999 and acted the role of Puck at the Nationaltheater Mannheim in Germany in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' in 2002 and 2003.

Other work includes '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' at the Young Vic (2004), ''Everyday'' for The Corn Exchange at the Dublin Theatre Festival (2006) and ''Side Effects'' for dANTE OR dIE (2011).

Recent

* Founded flamingofeather, a physical theatre company, in 2007 with Brazilian actress Ilana Gorban. Directed works such as ''Chasing My Tale'', which was performed in São Paulo and at the Wellcome Trust in London as part of The Handle with Care event and Drina, inspired by João Guimarães Rosa’s short story. He created and performed the solo work, ''The Beekeeper'', in London and Rio de Janeiro.
* Launched professional dance company Abundance, early in 2011. They performed Grace, choreographed by Simon Rice, at the Royal Opera House as part of Draft Works in the Linbury in January 2012.
* Founded community dance company Sage, in 2010, to focus on creating original choreographic work for dancers over 55.
* Awarded The Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts Fellowship 2010 to study models for social inclusion in Brazil.

References

'What's so special about K?'
''The Telegraph'', 22 April 1999


by Nobuko Tanaka ''The Japan Times'', Wednesday, April 3, 2002

'First Drafts - review'
by Luke Jennings ''The Observer'' Sunday 29 January 2012


on There Ought To Be Clowns blog


by Clement Crisp ''Financial Times'', 30 May 2011

External links

PURCELL, H.: Fairy Queen (The) (ENO, 1995) (PAL) - in the catalogue of 'NAXOS.COM, The World's leading Classical Music Group'




* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100115181859/http://www.fabulousbeasttour.co.uk/fbdt.html 'Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre - A Brief History' - Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre website
'Psychodrama and other models for social inclusion in Brazil' - Simon Rice Report, 2011 - Winston Churchill Memorial Trust website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Simon
British male ballet dancers
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
Year of birth missing (living people)