Galeazzi and Watkins to leave The Royal Ballet

Posted on February 6, 2013

Dancers Mara Galeazzi (pictured) and Jonathan Watkins will be leaving The Royal Ballet this season.

First artist Jonathan Watkins leaves the company on February 23 for a new freelance career as a choreographer and director. His interest in choreography began at The Royal Ballet School, and has continued during his time with the company, where his works included As One and, with William Tuckett and Liam Scarlett, Diana and Actaeon. He was the movement director for Alan Bennett’s play People at the National Theatre. His upcoming projects include new works in Russia and the United States, a full-length adaptation in the UK and theatre and film projects.

Principal dancer Mara Galeazzi will retire from The Royal Ballet in July 2013, at the end of the current season. Galeazzi, who had her first child last April, is moving to Oman to be with her husband. She plans to teach dance and continue her work for her charity Dancing for the Children, which raises funds for sick children in Africa. Galeazzi joined the company in 1992, and was promoted to principal in 2003. Her farewell performance at the Royal Opera House will be as Mary Vetsera in Mayerling on June 13. Her final performance with the company will be on tour in Monaco, where she will dance the title role in Manon on June 29.

Picture: Mara Galeazzi in Glen Tetley’s Voluntaries. Photograph: Bill Cooper, courtesy of the Royal Opera House

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.