David Bintley

David Bintley tells dancer and director Bruce Sansom, in this interview recorded at the Birmingham Hippodrome in 2005, how he was hooked on ballet from the age of 12, and how what particularly attracted him were roles which made a powerful dramatic impact. After studying in his native Yorkshire, he went to The Royal Ballet School, where he won a choreographic competition that was judged by Kenneth MacMillan. This led to his joining Sadler’s Wells [now Birmingham] Royal Ballet, and he tells us about some of his male Yorkshire contemporaries who also made it into the world of professional ballet, as well as his grandfather’s pride in what he was doing.

The interview is introduced by former Birmingham Royal Ballet principal and assistant director, Marion Tait in conversation with Natalie Steed.

David Bintley was born in Huddersfield in 1976. Fascinated by ballet and its dramatic power from the age of 12, he studied with local teachers before going to the Upper School of The Royal Ballet School. While there he won a choreographic competition that was judged by Kenneth MacMillan, as a result of which he was offered a job with Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet (SWRB) in 1976. Bintley was praised for his performances in such roles as Petrushka, Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty, the Red King in Checkmate, Alain and Widow Simone in La Fille mal gardée and a Step Sister in Cinderella. His first major choreographic work, The Outsider, was performed by SWRB in 1978.

From 1986 until 1993, Bintley was resident choreographer for The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, where an early success was ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café in 1988. This was followed by Hobson’s Choice, for SWRB, in 1989. In 1995 he was appointed artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet (as Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet had become). He held this position until his retirement in 2019, by which time he had created ten full-length and 12 one-act ballets for the company. From 2010 until 2014 he was also artistic director of the National Ballet of Japan, dividing his time between the two companies.

During his choreographic career Bintley worked with a number of companies, including Stuttgart Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Sarasota Ballet. He was particularly noted for his full-length works, such as Edward II, Cinderella, Cyrano, Beauty and the Beast and The Tempest. He was appointed CBE in 2001 and was knighted for services to dance in 2020.

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