Sir Anthony Dowell CBE

Director of the Royal Ballet, Anthony Dowell was born in London and studied at the Hampshire School and the Royal Ballet's Lower and Upper Schools.

In 1961 he joined The Royal Ballet and, less than two years later, Sir Frederick Ashton chose him to create the role of Oberon in 'The Dream'. It was in this Ballet that he first danced with Antoinette Sibley, who created Titania, and the foundation for an outstanding ballet partnership was laid.

Dowell was quickly noted for the combination of an outstanding strong technique with a lyrical quality and restraint in his dancing. Equally at home in classical or modern works, his innate dramatic sense enabled him to give life to the heroes of the full-length classical ballets such as Albrecht in Giselle and Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake.

By 1966, he had been promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer and is regarded as one of the 20th century's supreme classical dancers. In September 1986 he was appointed Director of The Royal Ballet having become Assistant to the Director in September 1984 and Associate Director in 1985.

In 1972 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, the youngest dancer ever to be so honoured.

In 1995, he was created a Knight Bachelor in the Queen's Birthday Honours List and presented with the Royal Academy of Dancing's Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award for 1994.