Jonathan Byrne Ollivier (26 April 1977 – 9 August 2015) was a British

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

Biography

Born in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, he began his dance journey at The Fairweather School of Dancing before completing his study of both classical ballet and contemporary at the

Rambert Ballet School Rambert is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ángel Rambert (1936–1983), Argentine-born French footballer *Eugène Rambert (1830–1886), Swiss author and poet *Marie Rambert (1888–1982), Polish-born dancer and pedagogue *Pas ...

. After graduating in 1996, he joined

CAPAB The Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) was a South African theatre organisation based in Cape Town, serving the former Cape Province. It was one of the four state-funded performing arts councils in the four former provinces of South Africa insti ...

(since renamed the

Cape Town City Ballet The Cape Town City Ballet Company, formerly known as the CAPAB Ballet Company, is a dance company based in Cape Town, South Africa. History The Cape Town City Ballet originated from the UCT Ballet Company, which was established by Dulcie Howe ...

). He became a principal before returning to England in 1999 to join Northern Ballet Theatre (now Northern Ballet) as Principal. Before leaving he married South African principal ballerina Desiré Samaai in Paarl,

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. Ollivier joined the Alberta Ballet Company as a Principal dancer in 2007. Ollivier was a strong partner, fine actor and a dancer of extraordinary physical and emotional intensity.

Notable roles

* The Swan/The Stranger in ''

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake Matthew Bourne's ''Swan Lake'' is a contemporary ballet based on the Russian romantic work '' Swan Lake'', from which it takes the music by Tchaikovsky and the broad outline of the plot. Bourne's rendering is best known for having the traditi ...

'' *

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

in ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of person ...

'' *

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

in ''

'' *

Athos Athos may refer to: Fictional or mythical characters * Athos (character), one of the title characters in the novel ''The Three Musketeers'' (1844) by Alexandre Dumas père * Athos (mythology), one of the Gigantes in Greek mythology * Athos Fadiga ...

in ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight f ...

'' * Heathcliff in '' Wuthering Heights'' *

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

in ''Requiem'' * Hyde in '' Jekyll and Hyde''

Awards

* Nominated as Outstanding Young Male Artist in National Dance Awards, 2002 * Nominated as Best Male Dancer in National Dance Awards, 2003–2004 * Honorary Fellowship from the

University of Northampton , mottoeng = Let us not be ignorant , established = 2005 (gained University status) 1975 (Nene College established) , type = Public , endowment = £0.95 m (2015) , chancellor = Richard Coles , vice_chancellor = ...

, 2006

Death

Ollivier died on 9 August 2015 in a motorbike accident hours before he was due to perform on stage. On 11 April 2017, the car driver involved in the accident was cleared of causing death by careless driving. A special performance - ''Mr Wonderful: A Celebration of Jonathan Ollivier's Life in Dance'' - was staged at Sadler's Wells in honour of Ollivier on 18 January 2016. The performance included extracts from The Car Man,

and Sleeping Beauty. New Adventures principal dancers

Richard Winsor Richard Winsor (born 4 January 1982) is a British actor and dancer. He is best known for his role as Caleb Knight in the long-running BBC television medical drama series's ''Casualty'' from January 2014 until April 2017, when his character wa ...

, Sam Archer, Simon Williams and James Leece performed in Matthew Bourne's Mr Wonderful. The sold-out evening was hosted by Sir

Matthew Bourne Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is an English choreographer whose work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre. Choreographer In 2007, Bourne contemplated a gay version of ''Romeo and Juliet''. Despite the succ ...

and featured over 80 performers - including many former colleagues of Ollivier. Income from the event was placed in charitable trust funds for Ollivier's two young sons.

References

External links

''Ballet'' magazine

Top British dancer for ''Carmen''
1977 births 2015 deaths British male ballet dancers Northern Ballet dancers Road incident deaths in London Motorcycle road incident deaths Musicians from Northamptonshire People from Northampton {{England-bio-stub