Bryony Brind

"I’m looking forward to joining my friends from the dance world at the Dance Forward Easter School. I’ve learnt a lot from the great dancers and choreographers of our era. The 5 day intensive course will give me the opportunity to pass on to a new generation of dancers some of my experiences and the joy dance has given me over the years."

Bryony Brind was born in England, joined the Royal Ballet School at 11, and was taken into the company in 1978 aged 17, having won the prestigious international ballet competition, The Prix de Lausanne, the year before.

Bryony was noticed very early on, for the quality of her dancing as well as her appearance - she was tall and thin, with amazingly high extensions. Bryony spent a short time in the corps de ballet and was promoted to soloist, missing out the usual step of coryphée. Winning high praise and rave reviews, Bryony received the Evening Standard Olivier Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Ballet”.

In 1981, Bryony was appointed a Senior Principal of The Royal Ballet at the age of twenty – the youngest to achieve this rank since it was first initiated. That same year, she made her début in Swan Lake, amidst great excitement and showers of flowers - it was a long time since we'd seen a new classical dancer and this seemed the dawn of a new era.

Bryony soon danced all the major Classical roles and was successfully recognized by the sternest of critics. Her interpretations became known for their psychological insight and command of the technical dynamics.

She next hit the headlines when she was chosen to dance with Nureyev in his production of the Shades scene from Bayadère, causing television interviewers to start talking about 'another Fonteyn'; and for a few years the company saw her, and used her, as one of their main attractions. Her status grew and Bryony danced in roles created for her by some of the world’s leading choreographers including Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Glen Tetley and David Bintley. She has also notably danced in ballets by Jerome Robbins, Anthony Tudor, John Cranko, Ben Stevenson and Michael Corder.

Bryony also became the ‘Balanchine Ballerina’ dancing all the lead roles in Balanchine ballets staged for the Royal Opera House. Bryony is one of the few international ballerinas entitled to dance the elegiac and tragic Dying Swan imortalised by Anna Pavlova – a gem that is a rare gift and privilege to dance.

Whilst still with the Royal Ballet, Bryony was invited by Wayne Eagling to dance with Freddie Mercury in his pop video “I want to break free”.

She made her last appearance with the company in 1991 as a guest in Ashton's Monotones II. She danced for a short time with a company called VoltAire, and since then has made occasional appearances as an actress.