On announcing The Royal Ballet's new promotions, Artistic Director Kevin O'Hare said,
With our eagerly awaited return to the stage, it is wonderful to mark this moment with some celebratory promotions for the dancers. I am always delighted to recognise the exceptional artistry of our Company members and it feels even more special at this time as we emerge from lockdown to share this exciting news.
New Principal Dancers
Fumi Kaneko and Cesar Corrales are promoted to Principal this Season with immediate effect.
Mayara Magri and Anna Rose O'Sullivan are promoted to Principal with effect from September 2021.
Fumi Kaneko's first performance as a Principal of The Royal Ballet will be in Christopher Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour on 20 May 2021. Her other appearances this Season will also include George Balanchine's Apollo and Jerome Robbins's Dances at a Gathering. Cesar Corrales' first performance as a Principal of The Royal Ballet will be in Crystal Pite's Solo Echo on 18 May. He will also make his debut in Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux.
Mayara Magri and Anna Rose O'Sullivan will both be performing in several of the ballets in the mixed programmes this Season and look forward to making exciting debuts as Principal dancers in the 2021/22 Season.
Kevin O'Hare has also made the following promotions within the Company with immediate effect:
Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Nicol Edmonds and Calvin Richardson have been promoted to First Soloist.
Gina Storm-Jensen and Joseph Sissens have been promoted to Soloist.
Leticia Dias, Mariko Sasaki and Harry Churches have been promoted to First Artist.
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
Hello. I am sad…. I wanted Reece Clarke as a Principal Dancer. He is a wonderful dancer and artist.
I agree with you, Reece is wonderful. I’m sure his turn will come!
The wonderful Fumi… yeah. So happy for her. Well deserved.
Yes – it is delightful news!