Liam Scarlett (8 April 198616 April 2021) was a British choreographer who was an artist in residence 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 ...

and artistic associate with Queensland Ballet. He also choreographed new works for Ballet Black,

Miami City Ballet Miami City Ballet is an American ballet company based in Miami Beach, Florida, led by artistic director Lourdes Lopez. MCB was founded in 1985 by Toby Lerner Ansin, a Miami philanthropist. Ansin and the founding board hired Edward Villella, ...

Norwegian National Ballet The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet ( no, Den Norske Opera & Ballett, links=no) is a Norwegian opera company and ballet company. The first fully professional company each for opera and ballet in Norway and the only such professional organisati ...

, the

BalletBoyz BalletBoyz or Ballet Boyz are a London-based all-male dance company. BalletBoyz was founded in 1999 by Michael Nunn and William Trevitt William Trevitt (February 7, 1809 – February 8, 1881) was a doctor, politician, diplomat, and newspaper p ...

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 ...

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

, American Ballet Theatre,

Royal New Zealand Ballet The Royal New Zealand Ballet is a ballet company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was originally known as The New Zealand Ballet Company. History New Zealand Ballet was established in 1953 as an independent charitable trust by Royal Danish ...

Atlanta Ballet Atlanta Ballet is a ballet company, located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the longest continuously performing ballet company in the United States and the State Ballet of Georgia. History Atlanta Ballet was founded in 1929 by Dorothy Alexander as ...

, Polish National Ballet, and the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

Early life

Scarlett was born on 8 April 1986 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 ...

, and started dancing aged four. He trained at the Linda Shipton School of Dancing in Ipswich, followed by the Royal Ballet Lower School, which he entered at the age of eight, and then the Upper School.

Choreographer

His first work for the main stage at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

in Covent Garden was ''Asphodel Meadows'' in 2010. It was a work for 20 dancers set to Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos. In 2008, the work was commissioned by

's then director,

Monica Mason Dame Monica Mason (born 6 September 1941) is a former ballet dancer, teacher, and artistic director of The Royal Ballet. In more than fifty years with the company, she established a reputation as a versatile performer, a skilled rehearsal dire ...

, who was eager to develop his choreographic abilities. Scarlett is the youngest choreographer to have had a full-length ballet commissioned by the Royal Ballet.

Edward Villella Edward Villella (born October 1, 1936) is an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He is frequently cited as America's most celebrated male dancer of ballet at the time. He has won numerous awards, including the Daytime Emmy Award for Out ...

, the then director of

, saw the dress rehearsal and commissioned Scarlett there and then. ''Visceras critically acclaimed premiere took place in January 2012. As well as further work for the Royal Ballet and Miami City Ballet, Scarlett created new works for the

, the

, American Ballet Theatre, and the Polish National Ballet. In November 2012, aged 26, Scarlett gave up his dancing career as a first artist with

, to become their first artist in residence, a post created especially for him by the Ballet's director,

Kevin O'Hare Kevin O'Hare (born 14 September 1965) is a British retired ballet dancer and current Director of The Royal Ballet. He succeeded Monica Mason in the role in 2012. Early life O’Hare was born in Kingston upon Hull to Northern Irish parents, Mich ...

. On 29 April 2014, Scarlett's ''Hummingbird'', inspired by Philip Glass's ''

Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra The Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (also known as the Piano Concerto No. 1) is a piano concerto by Philip Glass. The composer wrote the work in 2000. On commission by the Klangspuren in Stuttgart, it was written for the Stuttgarter Kammero ...

'' premiered at the San Francisco Ballet. In its review, ''

The Arts Desk ''The Arts Desk'' (theartsdesk.com) is a British arts journalism website containing reviews, interviews, news, and other content related to music, theatre, television, films, and other art forms written by journalists from a variety of traditio ...

'' website's critic thought that it stood "above offerings from Wheeldon,

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manitob ...

and Liang," and that Scarlett created "a fabulous, compelling visual and emotional world ... stirring stuff, and beautiful." In August 2019, he was suspended by the Royal Ballet amid allegations of sexual misconduct against his students. An investigation found no evidence to corroborate the allegations and no criminal charges were brought against him. In March, the Royal Opera House announced Scarlett's position with the Royal Ballet had ended because he had decided to leave. Even after having been cleared the choreographer left the company nevertheless.

Personal life and death

At the time of his death, Scarlett was in a relationship with dancer Fernando Duarte. Scarlett died in his hometown of Ipswich on 16 April 2021, aged 35. No cause of death was given. However, his colleagues

Dmitri Tcherniakov Dmitri Tcherniakov (russian: Дмитрий Черняков) (born May 11, 1970) is a Russian theatre director, and winner of numerous national Golden Mask theatre awards, who works with many European opera houses. Biography Tcherniakov was bor ...

and

Alexei Ratmansky Alexei Osipovich Ratmansky (russian: Алексей Осипович Ратманский, born August 27, 1968) is a Russian-American choreographer and former ballet dancer. From 2004 to 2008 he was the director of the Bolshoi Ballet. He left Rus ...

called his death a suicide and blamed cancel culture. A day before his death, the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

had cancelled his ''Frankenstein'' show over allegations of unacceptable behaviour in 2018 and 2019. An inquest later determined suicide.

Works

All for

, unless otherwise noted: *''Few Things Are'' (2005) *''Despite'' (2006) *''Vayamos al Diablo'' (2006) *''Hinterland'' (2006) ( Ballet Black) *''Indigo Children'' (2007) (Ballet Black) *''Somente'' (2007/8) *''Of Mozart'' (2008) *''Consolations and Liebestraum'' (2009) *''Asphodel Meadows'' (2010) *''Viscera'' (2012) (

) *''Sweet Violets'' (2012) *''Diana and Acteon'' in ''Metamorphosis: Titian'' (2012) *''Euphotic'' (2013) (Miami City Ballet) *''Hansel and Gretel'' (2013) *''Promenade Sentimentale'' (2013) (

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 ...

) *''Serpent'' (2013) (

: The Talent) *''Firebird'' (2013) (

) *''Vespertine'' (2013) (Norwegian National Ballet) *''The Age of Anxiety'' (2014) *''Hummingbird'' (2014) (

) *''No Man's Land'' (2014) (English National Ballet) *''Acheron'' (2014) (

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

) *''With a Chance of Rain'' (2014) (American Ballet Theatre) *''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (2015) (Royal New Zealand Ballet and Queensland Ballet) *''Carmen'' (2015) (Norwegian National Ballet) *''Frankenstein'' (2016) *''Symphonic Dances'' (2017) *Queen of Spades (2018) (

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world and originates from 1748, when the R ...

) *''Swan Lake'' (2018) *''Chopin’s Concerto in E minor'' (2018) ( Polish National Ballet) *''Dangerous Liaisons'' (2019) ( Queensland Ballet and

Texas Ballet Theater The Texas Ballet Theater was founded by Margo Dean in 1961 as the Fort Worth Ballet Association, in Fort Worth, Texas. At the invitation of Dean, Fernando Schaffenburg was invited to direct the company the following year. It became a fully professio ...

) *''Die Toteninsel'' (2019) (San Francisco Ballet)

Awards

*Kenneth MacMillan Choreographic Award (2001) *

Ursula Moreton Ursula Moreton (13 March 1903 – 24 June 1973) was a British ballerina and teacher, director of the Royal Ballet School from 1952 to 1968. Early life She was born in Southsea on 13 March 1903. Career Dancer Moreton studied with Cecchetti and deb ...

Choreographic Award (2003 and 2004) *De Valois Trust Fund Choreographers' Award (2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scarlett, Liam 1986 births 2021 deaths English people of Irish descent Ballet choreographers British choreographers British male ballet dancers Choreographers of The Royal Ballet English choreographers English male ballet dancers People educated at the Royal Ballet School Entertainers from Ipswich English LGBT people LGBT dancers LGBT choreographers Suicides in England