About

David Bintley joined Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet after graduating from The Royal Ballet School in 1976. He made his first ballet for the company two years later and became Resident Choreographer in 1984. He was a noted character artist, particularly in the ballets of Ashton and De Valois, and won an Olivier Award for his performance in the title role of Petrushka. He left the company ten years later to join The Royal Ballet as Resident Choreographer and Principal Dancer at the invitation of Anthony Dowell, and spent six further years at Covent Garden before leaving to freelance in 1992.

In 1990 Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet relocated from London to the Midlands and became The Birmingham Royal Ballet. In 1995 Bintley succeeded Sir Peter Wright as Director, a post he went on to hold for twenty-four years. He was concurrently the Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Japan from 2010 to 2014.

In addition to the two Royal Ballet companies Bintley’s work has featured in the repertory of many of the world’s great Ballet companies; Stuttgart, Munich, San Francisco, Houston, Boston, Sarasota, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Australian, Hong Kong, Bordeaux, Helsinki, P.A.C.T., Star Dancers and NBJ in Tokyo. The recipient of numerous awards, he was made a C.B.E. in the Queens Birthday Honours list in 2001 for services to dance, and Knighted in 2020.

Recent projects include the production of a new full-length production of A Comedy of Errors for Sarasota Ballet, with Music by Matthew Hindson and Designs by Dick Bird.