Christopher Wheeldon receives the RAD’s Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award
The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) has presented its highest honour, the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award, to director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon OBE. The award was presented by Her Majesty The Queen at a ceremony at the RAD’s headquarters in Wandsworth, London, recognising Wheeldon’s services to ballet and dance.
Wheeldon trained at The Royal Ballet School before joining The Royal Ballet company in 1991. As a choreographer, he has created and staged productions for companies including San Francisco Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet, The Mariinsky Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet and Hamburg Ballet. He serves as Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet, for whom he has made a number of works, including the full-length Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale.
Wheeldon has also choreographed for film and for Broadway and West End musicals, including ballet sequences for the feature film Center Stage (2000) and the television series Étoile (2025). He has won Tony and Olivier Awards for his choreography of An American in Paris and MJ The Musical, and is President of the RAD’s Benesh International, the centre for Benesh Movement Notation.
Reflecting on the award, Wheeldon said: “I’m honoured and delighted. My first ballet classes at seven years old were the RAD syllabus, so this is where it all began – and with Elizabeth, Darcey and Alexander leading, the future feels boundless.”
The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award, the RAD’s highest accolade, was instituted in 1953 to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It was created by Dame Adeline Genée, founding President of the RAD, to be presented annually in recognition of services to dance; the first recipient, in 1954, was Dame Ninette de Valois. Past recipients include Dame Marie Rambert, Sir Frederick Ashton, Dame Monica Mason, Rudolf Nureyev and Carlos Acosta CBE, with Mikhail Baryshnikov the most recent, in 2022.
Dame Darcey Bussell DBE, President of the RAD, presented the award and spoke of Wheeldon’s influence on the field, saying: “As one of the world’s most famous choreographers, Christopher Wheeldon has inspired countless dancers and artists over the years with his unique storytelling, artistry and ability to capture audiences far and wide. It is an honour to present him with the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award.”
Elizabeth Honer CB, Chief Executive of the RAD, described the award as recognising individuals who have transformed the ballet world, and said of Wheeldon’s own contribution: “I’m delighted we have been able to recognise Christopher Wheeldon’s outstanding contribution through this award. As a choreographer and dancer, he has made such a profound contribution to ballet and musical theatre. His energy, intelligence, storytelling and experimentation ensure that our art form not only continues to flourish but inspires dancers and audiences of all ages from across the globe.”
During the ceremony, Her Majesty watched two performances: a piece choreographed by Warren Carlyle, part of the RAD’s new Musical Theatre syllabus, and an excerpt from Tryst, choreographed by Wheeldon and performed by Royal Ballet Principals Melissa Hamilton and Ryoichi Hirano. The pas de deux was originally created on Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope in 2002.
Her Majesty has a long association with the RAD, having opened its global headquarters in March 2022 as Vice Patron, before becoming Patron in 2024 following the death of the RAD’s previous patron, Queen Elizabeth II.
The RAD, a teacher training organisation, promotes dance through a global network of teachers. It received its Royal Charter in 1936.
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.
