Yasmine Naghdi

Yasmine Naghdi (born 25 March 1992), is a British ballerina, and a principal ballerina of The Royal Ballet, London. She joined The Royal Ballet's corps de ballet in April 2010 when she was still a Graduate student at The Royal Ballet School. She rapidly made her way up through all the five ranks of The Royal Ballet and reached the highest rank aged 24, when she was promoted to principal ballerina.[1]

Yasmine Naghdi
Yasmine in La Bayàdere (production of Natalia Makarova)
Born (1992-03-25) 25 March 1992
London, England
OccupationPrincipal ballerina at The Royal Ballet

Training

Yasmine Naghdi,[2] started her vocational training at The Royal Ballet School in 2004, she was a Royal Ballet School junior associate before joining The Royal Ballet School at White Lodge. During her training she was awarded "Most Outstanding Classical Dancer" at the age of 16. As a student, she worked with The Royal Ballet company and first appeared on the Royal Opera House stage, aged 11, in Cinderella, aged 12 in Swan Lake, and later on in Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.[3] In September 2008 Yasmine Naghdi progressed into The Royal Ballet School's Senior Section/Upper School; in March 2009 she was awarded first prize in the "Young British Dancer of the Year" competition.[4]

Career

Naghdi joined The Royal Ballet in April 2010 and was promoted to the rank of first artist by the end of 2011–2012 season. She was made soloist at the end of the 2013–2014 season, first soloist at the end of the 2015–2016 season and by the end of the 2016–2017 season she was promoted to The Royal Ballet's highest rank and became a principal ballerina aged 24.[2][5]

At the age of 22, she danced her debut as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet; The Royal Ballet was celebrating 50 years since Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet premiered at the Royal Opera House in 1965.[6] Aged 24 she danced her debut as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake.

Repertory

Naghdi's major leading roles with the Company include Odette/Odile (Swan Lake), Princess Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty), Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Tatiana (Onegin), Giselle, Cinderella, Kitri (Don Quixote), Gamzatti (La Bayadère), Swanilda (Coppélia), Baroness Mary Vetsera (Mayerling), Countess Marie Larish (Mayerling), Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Firebird (The Firebird), Mathilde Kschessinska (Anastasia), Tita (Like Water for Chocolate), Irina (Winter Dreams), Terpsichore (Apollo), Young Girl (The Two Pigeons), Stop Time Rag and Bethena/Concert Waltz (Elite Syncopations), Pink Girl (Dances at a Gathering), Concerto 2nd Movement, Within the Golden Hour central Pas de deux, Symphonic Variations, Scènes de ballet, Balanchine's Jewels, Tarantella, The Four Temperaments, Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, Ballo della Regina, La Valse, and Serenade, and in various works by Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon. She created a role in Zucchetti's Prima.

Her further repertory includes Le Corsaire Grand Pas de deux, Sylvia Act III Pas de deux, Le Parc (Angelin Preljocaj), Three Preludes (Ben Stevenson) and Ballet Imperial (George Balanchine).

Honours
  • First prize "Classical Excellence", The Royal Ballet School
  • "Most Outstanding Classical Dancer" award, 2007
  • First prize "Kenneth Macmillan Choreographic Competition", The Royal Ballet School.
  • First prize Young British Dancer of the Year, 2009.[4]
  • Nominated "Best Female Dancer" at the National Critics Dance Awards, 2018

References
  1. "Yasmine Naghdi". Dance Forward. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  2. "Yasmine Naghdi". Royal Opera House. Archived from the original on 16 July 2014.
  3. Bain, David (2 September 2011). "Meeting report – Camille Bracher & Yasmine Naghdi". The Ballet Association. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014.
  4. "Graduate Contracts" (Press release). Royal Ballet School. 4 February 2010. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014.
  5. "Promotions and joiners at The Royal Ballet for 2016/17". Royal Opera House. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016.
  6. "The Royal Ballet's new star-crossed lovers: Yasmine Naghdi and Matthew Ball". gramilano. 2 October 2015. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016.
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