British choreographer David Dawson is one of the leading dancemakers working in classical ballet today. His choreographic style transforms classical ballet in new ways and his signature works have been praised by critics and audiences worldwide. Between 2004 and 2012 he was Resident Choreographer for Dutch National Ballet, Semperoper Ballett and Royal Ballet of Flanders. He has been Associate Artist with Dutch National Ballet since 2015 and in 2025, he was appointed Resident Choreographer with The National Ballet of Canada.
Dawson was honoured with the Prix Benois de la Danse Award for choreography and nominated for the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for The Grey Area (2002). He created Reverence (2005) for the Mariinsky Ballet, for which he was awarded Russia’s highest theatre prize for visual art, the Golden Mask Award, while becoming the first British choreographer to create a ballet for this legendary company. He received the Choo San Goh Award for The Gentle Chapters (2005) and was nominated for The Golden Swan Award for both 00:00 (2004) and Overture (2013). For his re-imagining of Faun(e) (2009), created for English National Ballet, Dawson was nominated for the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Award and the Prix Benois de la Danse Choreography Award. Most recently his Four Last Songs (2024) was nominated for the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Award.
Born in London in 1972, David Dawson trained at the Rona Hart School of Dance, Arts Educational School and The Royal Ballet School. In 1991 he won the professional prize at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne, and the same year he joined the Birmingham Royal Ballet. He went on to join the English National Ballet in 1994 as a soloist, and a year later moved to Amsterdam to perform with Dutch National Ballet. Subsequently, he joined Ballet Frankfurt in 2000, where he worked with William Forsythe and performed for two more years before deciding to devote his time to creating his own new works.
Dawson has created over 40 ballets that have been performed in more than 30 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Oceania, including his full-length creations of Romeo and Juliet (2022), Swan Lake (2016), Tristan + Isolde (2015), and Giselle (2008).
Other significant works are: Symphony No.2 (2024), Legacy Variations (2022), Affairs of the Heart (2022), Voices (2021), Requiem (2019), Anima Animus (2018), The Four Seasons (2018), At the End of the Day (2017), Citizen Nowhere (2017), Styx (2016), Empire Noir (2015)The Human Seasons (2013), Opus.11 (2013), Day4 (2012), Timelapse/(Mnemosyne) (2011), Dancingmadlybackwards (2010), The Third Light (2010), The World According to Us (2009), 5 (2008), On the Nature of Daylight (2007), A Sweet Spell of Oblivion (2007), The Disappeared (2006), Morning Ground (2004), and his highly acclaimed A Million Kisses to my Skin (2000).
For film, Dawson created
Metamorphosis (2021), 7 Portraits of Solitude (2020), The Swan (2021), and
Styx (2019).
His creations are part of the repertoires of many renowned ballet companies worldwide including: Berlin StaatsBallett, Boston Ballet, Ballet National de Marseilles, Bayerisches Staatsballett, National Ballet of Canada, Ballett Dortmund, Dutch National Ballet, Dutch National Ballet Junior Company, Dresden SemperOper Ballett, English National Ballet, Aalto Ballet Theatre Essen, Finnish National Ballet, Hungarian National Ballet, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, La Scala Milan, National Ballet of Japan, Norwegian National Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, Ballett am Rhein, Ballet du Rhin, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Royal New Zealand Ballet, The Royal Ballet, Saarbrücken Staatstheater Ballett, San Francisco Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Stuttgart Ballett, Royal Swedish Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Slovenian National Ballet, Ballet du Capitole Toulouse, Tulsa Ballet, West Australian Ballet, and Vienna State Opera Ballet.
Dawson is Artistic Patron to Junior Ballet Antwerp, and Choreographer Laureate of European School of Ballet in 2019. He has also been invited as a Jury member of the Prix Benois de la Danse in Moscow and Dance Open International Ballet Festival in St Petersburg.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
2019
The Isadora Duncan Dance Award (The Izzies) Nominee for Achievement in Choreography for Anima Animus
2014
UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Award Nominee as Best Classical Choreographer for The Human Seasons
2013
Golden Swan Award Nominee for Most Impressive Dance Production in The Netherlands for the creation of Overture
2010
Benois de la Danse Choreography Award Nominee as Best Choreographer for the creation of Faun(e)
UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Award Nominee as Best Classical Choreographer for the creation of Faun(e)
2006
Golden Mask Award Winner as Best Choreographer for the creation of Reverence
Choo San Goh Choreography Award Winner for the creation of The Gentle Chapters
2005
UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Award Nominee as Best Classical Choreographer for The Grey Area
2003
Benois de la Danse Choreography Award Winner for Best Choreographer for the creation of The Grey Area
Golden Swan Award Nominee for Best New Production in The Netherlands for the creation of 00:00
1992
Best Newcomer of the Season Nominee by Dance & Dancers magazine
1991
Prix de Lausanne
Winner
Alicia Markova Award Winner
