British choreographer and dancer, David Dawson (born 4 March 1972 in London, England) is one of the most respected names amongst the younger generation of choreographers working in the classical ballet idiom today.
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Born in London, David Dawson began to dance at the age of 7 and received his early training at Rona Hart School of Dance, Arts Educational School and the Royal Ballet School where he was trained in dance and choreography. In 1991 he received the Alicia Markova Award, won the prestigious Prix de Lausanne and the same year he was offered a contract by the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Under the direction of Sir Peter Wright he was soon performing leading roles in all the classical repertoire as well as in ballets by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir Peter Wright and David Bintley. He was nominated as Best Newcomer of the Season by Dance & Dancers magazine in 1992.
He joined the English National Ballet under the direction of Derek Deane in 1994 as a Soloist, and a year later moved to Amsterdam to perform with Wayne Eagling's Dutch National Ballet. Here Dawson was able to continue dancing in classical productions as well as exploring more neo-classical and modern repertoire in particular the works of George Balanchine, Rudi van Dantzig and Hans van Manen. Dawson choreographed his first ballet in 1997, while with the Dutch National Ballet. Its then artistic director Wayne Eagling encouraged him to create for the company’s choreographic workshop. This experience resulted in Dawson's first major creation for the main company, A Million Kisses to my Skin, in 2000.
He danced all over the world, worked with choreographers and created roles in new ballets including works by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Glen Tetley, Twyla Tharp, Christopher Bruce, Wayne Eagling, Ted Brandsen, Mauro Bigonzetti, Itzik Gallili, Redha, Christopher D'Amboise. Subsequently, he joined Ballett Frankfurt, where he worked with William Forsythe and performed for two more years before deciding to devote his time to creating his own new works.
Between 2004 and 2009 Dawson was Resident Choreographer for the Dutch National Ballet and the Dresden Semperoper Ballet. Since September 1, 2010, David Dawson has been appointed Choreographer in Residence at the Royal Ballet of Flanders. His works have entered the repertoires of many leading ballet companies and have also been performed in more than 20 countries to much acclaim from both international critics and the public. He was honoured with the Prix Benois de la Danse in 2003 for choreography and nominated for the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Award as Best Classical Choreographer for The Grey Area. The process of choreographing this ballet was vividly illustrated in Tim Couchman's film The Grey Area in Creation.
Dawson has created numerous ballets internationally, including his full-length Giselle, which had its world premiere at the Semperoper. He created Reverence for the Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet for which he was awarded Russia's highest theatre prize for visual art, the Golden Mask Award, as Best Choreographer, and became the first British choreographer to create a ballet for this legendary company. Amongst other significant works are 00:00, Morning Ground, The Gentle Chapters, Das Verschwundene|The Disappeared, A Sweet Spell of Oblivion, On the Nature of Daylight, and The World According to Us. Dawson was nominated for the highest dance prize of The Netherlands, The Golden Swan Award, as Best Choreographer for 00:00, and received the Choo San Goh Award for Choreography for The Gentle Chapters.
Dawson’s most recent works include his highly acclaimed, The Third Light and dancingmadlybackwards. For his re-imagining of Faun(e), created for the English National Ballet's Ballets Russes Festival at the Sadler’s Wells in London, Dawson has been nominated as Best Classical Choreographer for the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Award and the Prix Benois de la Danse Choreography Award in 2003. David Dawson and his Faun(e) were featured in the BBC documentary 'For Art’s Sake: The Story of the Ballets Russes'.
David Dawson's latest choreography to date, timelapse/(Mnemosyne), saw its world premiere with the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam during the Holland Festival in 2011. He is currently working on his newest creation, day4, set to music specially commissioned by the English composer Greg Haines. day4 will have its world premiere on 15 February 2012 during the 'Present(s)' programme as part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the Dutch National Ballet.
Having worked with classical balletic vocabulary for 30 years Dawson has a deep rooted knowledge of this dance language and uses it in his work trying to turn the ordinary step into something new. Through his unique style of movement Dawson expands the possibilities of the human body, develops the language of classical ballet and brings it onto another level by exploring new visions of dance and creating atmospheric stage worlds. Inspired by 'everything that has ever existed and everything that exists now', Dawson’s goal is to explore his artistic ideas through dance, music and performance, and create balletic works that can be viewed as modern art. To make classical ballets that are alive, relevant and contemporary.
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