Royal Ballet Principal Dancer retires after 27 years

Royal Ballet Principal Dancer EDWARD WATSON has announced his retirement after 27 years.

He makes his final performance with the company on October 30 in Wayne McGregor’s The Dante Project.

Watson's career at the Royal Ballet has included productions by Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMilan, alongside creating numerous ballets himself.

He won the 2012 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance, the 2015 Benois de la danse and was awarded an MBE in 2015.

At the start of the 2020/21 season, Watson joined the roster of Royal Ballet coaches as Répétiteur.

"Edward’s artistic sensibility and extraordinary physicality have made him one of the most distinctive performers of his generation, and indeed across The Royal Ballet’s history, ushering in a new era of possibility for men in ballet," said company director Kevin O'Hare.