Royal Ballet Junior Makes Significant Debuts

As The Royal Ballet appears in Cuba for the first time, its London office has announced casting for the autumn booking period (October–December). The Company’s Principal dancers all perform, but so too does the junior Melissa Hamilton who at the time of writing is still only an Artist – the lowliest rung on The Royal Ballet ladder.

Hamilton makes her debut in Principal roles in Kenneth MacMillan’s dramatically demanding Mayerling alongside Rupert Pennefather and Marianela Nunez (27 October). She also debuts in George Balanchine’s technically difficult Agon with Eric Underwood (5, 9, 17 November).

Hamilton’s debuts are also noteworthy as she only joined the Company in 2007 and didn’t arrive via the usual route of the Royal Ballet School. Instead she trained in her home town of Belfast, and then studied at Elmhurst from the relatively late age of 16 where she was coached by Masha Mukhamedov, the wife of former Royal Ballet star Irek Mukhamedov. When the pair moved to Greece, she took the unusual step of moving with them to continue her studies.