Wayne Eagling will leave the English National Ballet this summer

Wayne Eagling will step down artistic director of English National Ballet, with no clues as to his replacement, said The Times.

English National Ballet has announced that Wayne Eagling, who has been artistic director of the company since 2005, will step down at the end of this season in August. He will be the third artistic director of a British ballet company to leave their job this summer. Monica Mason, director of the Royal Ballet, is departing after ten years at the top, while Ashley Page is leaving Scottish Ballet after a decade as artistic director.

The ENB statement, which came as a surprise, didn’t make any mention of a possible successor to Eagling. John Talbot, the company’s chairman, said,

I would like to thank Wayne Eagling for his outstanding contribution to the company over the last seven years, a time of tremendous achievement. We look forward to working with him on many projects in the future.”

Eagling, in a statement, said

It has been a privilege to work with such a wonderful group of dancers and ballet staff. The quality of performances, variety of repertoire, critical success and the innovative work of the learning and outreach programmes over the last seven years makes me incredibly proud of English National Ballet.”

The ENB will be advertising for a new artistic director to replace him.

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.