Simon Rice (born 20th century) 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 trained 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 ...

s before joining

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 ...

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 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 ...

: ''

The Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Dream may also refer to: Art Paintings * ''The Dream'' (Detaille), an 1888 painting by Édouard D ...

'' - Puck and Bottom, '' A Month in The Country'' - Kolya, ''Cinderella'' - The Jester, ''

La Fille Mal Gardée LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

'' - Alain, '' Les Patineurs'' - Blue Boy; *

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

: '' The Concert'' - The Shy Boy; *

Anthony Dowell Sir Anthony James Dowell (born 16 February 1943) is a retired British ballet dancer and a former artistic director of the Royal Ballet. He is widely recognized as one of the great ''danseurs nobles'' of the twentieth century. Early life and tr ...

: ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

'' - The Neapolitan; *

Natalia Makarova Natalia Romanovna Makarova (, born 21 November 1940) is a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. ''The History of Dance'', published in 1981, notes that "her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her a ...

: ''

La Bayadère ''La Bayadère'' ("the temple dancer") ( ru. «Баядерка», ''Bayaderka'') is an 1877 ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by the French choreographer Marius Petipa to music by Ludwig Minkus and libretto by . The ba ...

'' - The Bronze Idol; *Sir Peter Wright: ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

'' - The Nutcracker and Fritz; *

David Bintley Sir David Julian Bintley (born 17 September 1957) is an English former ballet dancer, the artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, and co-artistic director of the New National Theatre Tokyo ballet company. Early life Bintley was born ...

: ''Prometheus'' - The Creature, ''Sons of Horus'' - Hopi; *Sir

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 ...

: ''

Elite Syncopations "Elite Syncopations" is a 1902 ragtime piano composition by American composer Scott Joplin, originally published in 1903 by John Stark & Son.Mayerling Mayerling is a small village (pop. 200) in Lower Austria belonging to the municipality of Alland in the district of Baden (district of Austria), Baden. It is situated on the Schwechat river, in the Vienna Woods, Wienerwald (''Vienna woods''), so ...

'' - Bratfisch, '' Prince of the Pagodas'' - The Fool, and ''

The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring'' () is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky ...

'' - The Chosen One – the first male dancer to perform this role.

Other work

Shortly after going freelance in 1992 Rice danced in ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

'' at The National Theatre and performed

Mr. Mistoffelees Mr. Mistoffelees is a character in T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' and its 1981 musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines son ...

in ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

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

Giselle ''Giselle'' ( , ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (; ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet () in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, it was first perfor ...

''. From 1999 to 2004 he danced as a guest artist for K-ballet in Japan, with roles in ''Wolfgang'', ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'', ''

'' and '' The Sleeping Beauty''. For K-ballet he choreographed ''The Vary People'', performed in Japan and at the

Festival dei Due Mondi The ''Festival dei Due Mondi'' (Festival of the Two Worlds) is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958. It features a vast array of conc ...

, Spoleto, Italy. In opera, Rice danced the role of Puck in ''

The Fairy-Queen ''The Fairy-Queen'' (1692; Purcell catalogue number Z.629) is a semi-opera by Henry Purcell; a "Restoration spectacular". The libretto is an anonymous adaptation of William Shakespeare's comedy ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. First performed in ...

'' at the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

in 1996 and 1999 and acted the role of Puck at the

Nationaltheater Mannheim The Mannheim National Theatre () is a theatre and opera company in Mannheim, Germany, with a variety of performance spaces. It was founded in 1779 and is one of the oldest theatres in Germany. History In the 18th century Mannheim was the cap ...

in Germany in ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...

'' in 2002 and 2003. Other work includes ''

The Skin of Our Teeth ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' is a play by Thornton Wilder that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942, at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, ...

'' at the

Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Nadia Fall has been artistic director since 2025, succeeding ...

(2004), ''Everyday'' for The Corn Exchange at the

Dublin Theatre Festival The Dublin Theatre Festival is Europe's oldest specialised theatre festival. It was founded by theatre impresario Brendan Smith in 1957 and has, with the exception of two years, produced a season of international and Irish theatre each autumn. ...

(2006) and ''Side Effects'' for dANTE OR dIE (2011).

Recent

* Founded flamingofeather, a

physical theatre Physical theatre is a genre of theatrical performance that encompasses storytelling primarily through physical movement. Although several performance theatre disciplines are often described as "physical theatre", the genre's characteristic aspe ...

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 The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

in London as part of The Handle with Care event and Drina, inspired by

João Guimarães Rosa João Guimarães Rosa (; 27 June 1908 – 19 November 1967) was a Brazilian novelist, short story writer, poet and diplomat. Rosa only wrote one novel, '' Grande Sertão: Veredas'' (known in English as ''The Devil to Pay in the Backlands''), a ...

’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 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 ...

as part of Draft Works in the Linbury in January 2012. * Founded community dance company Sage, in 2010, to focus on creating choreographic work for dancers over 55. * Awarded The

Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

Fellowship 2010 to study models for social inclusion in Brazil.

The Royal Ballet

Other work

Recent

References

Further reading