William Bracewell

“Bracewell is such an instinctive performer; he’s not playing Romeo, he’s being him, young and slightly foolish, and his dancing has the same limpid quality and effortlessness”
(Guardian, 2021)

First Soloist: Royal Ballet

Welsh dancer William Bracewell joined The Royal Ballet as a Soloist in 2017 and was promoted to First Soloist in 2018.

Bracewell was born in Swansea. He trained at the Pamela Miller Ballet School and, from the age of 11, at The Royal Ballet School. Awards while a student includes the 2007 Young British Dancer of the Year Award and the Grand Prix at the 2010 Youth America Grand Prix. He joined Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2010, promoted to first artist in 2012 and to soloist in 2014.

“Bracewell is another natural actor and while some Siegfrieds can be a bit cardboard cutout, his has fully flawed personhood, a troubled soul rejecting stifling royal expectations with the yearning reach of his arabesque. Yet when he meets Odile the transformation is immediate: his chin lifts, his jumps soar, his eyes pop. “I’ll be a prince for her!” he’s saying.”

(Guardian, 2022)