Gary Avis

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

is an English

ballet dancer A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...

who is currently a Principal Character Artist and Senior Ballet Master with

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

, London.

Early life

Avis was born in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

. He was first trained in musical theatre, and had performed in the Royal Variety Performance. He did not start ballet until he was 12. He then studied musical theatre at

Bird College Bird College – Conservatoire for Dance and Musical Theatre is an independent performing arts school and college, located in Sidcup, South East London, in the London Borough of Bexley. The college was founded as a dance school by Doreen Bird ...

in Kent. Avis later started training at The Royal Ballet School in London after a teacher from Bird College filled in the application form for him.

Career

Avis joined

in 1989, and became a soloist in 1995. In 1999, he co-founded

K-ballet K-ballet is a Japanese ballet company. The company started in 1999 and has since held approximately 50 annual performances. K-Ballet's activity was first recognised internationally in July 2004, when the ballet group was invited to New York's Met ...

in Japan. In 2002, he joined the

English National Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish ...

as a First Soloist before returning to the Royal Ballet in 2004. He was made Principal Character Artist the following year. In 2007, he was appointed Assistant Ballet Master, and was named Ballet Master in the 2009/10 season. In 2019, Avis was made Senior Ballet Master. He had portrayed character roles such as Drosselmeyer in ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchai ...

'', Von Rothbart in '' Swan Lake'' and Prince Gremin in '' Onegin''. His role creations include ''

Woolf Works ''Woolf Works'' is a full-length contemporary ballet choreographed by Wayne McGregor, composed by Max Richter, and inspired by Virginia Woolf's novels, letters, essays and diaries. The premiere took place on 11 May 2015 at the Royal Opera House. ...

'', for which he danced with

Alessandra Ferri Alessandra Ferri OMRI (born 6 May 1963) is an Italian prima ballerina. She danced with the Royal Ballet (1980–1984), American Ballet Theatre (1985–2007) and La Scala Theatre Ballet (1992–2007) and as an international guest artist, before t ...

. Avis is a frequent partner of

Darcey Bussell Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, (born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle; 27 April 1969) is an English retired ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest ''Strictly Come Dancing''. Trained at the Arts Educational Sc ...

. In her final performance, which was broadcast live, Avis danced with Bussell and

Carlos Acosta Carlos Yunior Acosta Quesada (born 2 June 1973) is a Cuban-British ballet director and retired dancer who is director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. He danced with many companies including the English National Ballet, National Ballet of ...

in '' Song of the Earth''. Avis later danced in Bussell and Katherine Jenkins's tour, '' Viva la Diva'' and on '' Strictly Come Dancing'', where Bussell was a judge. In 2012, Avis performed at the London Olympics closing ceremony, in a sequence titled 'Spirit of the Flame', choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon and composed by

David Arnold David Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is a British film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films, as well as ''Stargate'' (1994), '' Independence Day'' (1996), ''Godzilla'' (1998) and the television series ''Little Britain'' ...

. Bussell flew to the stage on a flaming phoenix and when landing was met by Avis, Jonathan Cope, Edward Watson, Nehemiah Kish and over 200 ballet dancers, after which the

Olympic Flame The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olymp ...

was extinguished. Avis won the National Dance Awards for Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) in 2011 and 2019. He was made an

in 2018. He also has an honorary doctorate from the

University of Suffolk The University of Suffolk is a public university situated in Suffolk and Norfolk, England. The modern university was established in 2007 as University Campus Suffolk (UCS), the institution was founded as a unique collaboration between the Univer ...

, and had worked with the Art and Culture Fund at Suffolk Community Foundation.

Personal life

Avis is in a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

with Tim Holder. They live in rural Suffolk.

References

External links

Royal Ballet profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avis, Gary Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at the Royal Ballet School Dancers of The Royal Ballet English National Ballet dancers English male ballet dancers Entertainers from Ipswich 20th-century British ballet dancers 21st-century British ballet dancers LGBT dancers English LGBT entertainers Members of the Order of the British Empire