Jonathan Cope

"I have been privileged to persue my chosen career as a professional dancer. Working with The Royal Ballet and many ballerinas, choreographers and teachers has given me great pleasure and satisfaction. I am delighted to have the chance to teach a new generation of talented dancers."

Jonathan Cope was born in Crediton, Devon, moving to Dyfed in Wales aged 8. He trained at White Lodge (the Royal Ballet Lower School) from 1974, graduating into the Upper School in 1979, and dancing in the 1981 and 1982 School performances (his roles in the latter were Albrecht and Siegfried) before joining The Royal Ballet in September 1982 aged 19. He became a Principal in 1987. In August 1990, aged 27, he left The Royal Ballet to pursue a career away from dance. Two years later, having established himself in business, he decided to return to performing, rejoining the Company in September 1992.

His repertory with The Royal Ballet includes the leading role in all the classics: the Princes in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, Solor in La Bayadère and Albrecht in Giselle; the principal roles in Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet (which he first danced whilst still in the corps de ballet), Manon (Des Grieux) and The Prince of the Pagodas (which MacMillan created on him in 1989), and Frederick Ashton's Cinderella and Ondine (Palemon).

Leading roles in one-act ballets include Balanchine's Serenade, Agon and Apollo; Jerome Robbins' Opus 19/The Dreamer; David Bintley's The Sons of Horus, Young Apollo, Galanteries, The Planets (Saturn pas de deux), 'Still Life' at the Penguin Café (Man in 'Now Nothing') and The Spirit of Fugue (he created leading roles in the latter four); MacMillan's Le Baiser de la fée, Concerto, Gloria, Requiem and Triad. Ashley Page's A Broken Set of Rules, Pursuit and Piano (in all of which he created leading roles), Gsovsky's Grand pas classique and Frederick Ashton's Monotones.

Since his return to the company, he has made his debuts in MacMillan's Mayerling (Crown Prince Rudolph), Different Drummer (Woyzeck), The Judas Tree (Second Friend and Foreman) and Anastasia (Mathilde Kschenssinka’s partner); in Frederick Ashton's A Month in the Country (Beliaev), Illuminations (The Poet), Birthday Offering pas de deux, La Valse, Air pas de deux and Monotones II, the Thaïs pas de deux and Armand in Marguerite and Armand; as the Fox in Ashley Page's Renard, the leading man in Fearful Symmetries (in which he also dances a solo role which he created) and the pas de deux ... now languorous, now wild ... with Darcey Bussell; in Balanchine’s Symphony in C, partnering Sylvie Guillem, Duo Concertant, Jean de Brienne in Raymonda Act III, Nacho Duato’s Remanso, Ashton’s Thaïs, Armand in Ashton’s Marguerite and Armand with Sylvie Guillem, the lead male in Balanchine’s Serenade, Ivan Tsarevitch in Fokine’s The Firebird, the Andantino Boy in Nijinska’s Les Biches, the Lover in Antony Tudor’s Lilac Garden, the lead couple with Darcey Bussell in Stephen Baynes’s Beyond Bach, Nacho Duato’s Por Vos Muero and Escamillo in Mats Ek’s Carmen.

He has also created leading roles in William Tuckett's If this is still a problem, Matthew Hart’s Dances with Death, Christopher Wheeldon’s pas de deux Pavane pour une infante défunte with Darcey Bussell, Ashley Page’s Sawdust and Tinsel (The Illusionist), Cathy Marston’s Words Apart (central pas de deux with Deborah Bull for a dance gala, incorporated in full work for 1998 Dance Bites Tour) and Tidelines (1999 Dance Bites Tour) and danced in the Company premiere of Matthew Hart’s pas de deux Cry Baby Kreisler on the 1997 Dance Bites tour. In the 99/2000 Season he has created roles in William Tuckett’s The Crucible (John Proctor) and 3:4, and Christopher Wheeldon’s There Where She Loves for the New Works in the Linbury Studio Theatre. During the 00/01 season he created the role of principal boy in Michael Corder’s Dance Variations, in 2002 he created the lead male in Christopher Wheeldon’s Tryst and in 2003 he created the role of L’Ete in David Bintley’s Les Saisons.

In the 2002/2003 season he made his debut as the Forman in MacMillan’s The Judas Tree.

Television appearances with The Royal Ballet include the Fourth Movement of Symphony in C with Miyako Yoshida and the Act I pas de deux from Manon with Sylvie Guillem at the 1997 Farewell Gala.

He is married to ex-Royal Ballet principal Maria Almeida and they have two children Anoushka and Joseph. In the 2003 New Year Honours List he was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to dance, and in January 2003 he was given the South Bank Show Dance Award.

Jonathan will retire as a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in the Spring of 2006. In the Autumn of 2005, he joined the Artistic Staff of The Royal Ballet as Répétiteur.