Yasmine Naghdi

Training and career

Naghdi was born in London and attended Hill House International Junior School before she started her vocational training at The Royal Ballet School. She was as a junior associate before joining The Royal Ballet School at White Lodge. She was selected by the Director Gailene Stock to represent The Royal Ballet School in an exchange programme with the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St Petersburg, the School of the Mariinsky Ballet company. Naghdi features in the BBC documentary The Magic of Swan Lake in collaboration with Darcey Bussell.

As a student, she worked with The Royal Ballet company and danced in Cinderella, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.

Naghdi progressed to the RBS Upper School in September 2008 and was awarded the 1st prize in the "Young British Dancer of the Year" competition in March 2009. She progressed from 1st year straight into 3rd Year, the Graduate Year. A few months later, at the age of 17, she was offered a contract with The Royal Ballet and joined the company in April 2010 as an Artist. Naghdi was promoted to the rank of first artist by the end of the 2011–2012 season, to soloist at the end of the 2013-2014 season, first soloist at the end of the 2015–2016 season and to Principal at the end of the 2016–2017 season.

During the brief time (September 2009 – April 2010) in her Graduate Year, Naghdi danced Kenneth MacMillan's Concerto 2nd movement at the Birmingham Royal Ballet 20th Anniversary Gala, by invitation of David Bintley, Director BRB, in the presence of HRH Prince Charles. She also danced at the John Neumeier Gala in Hamburg, as well as in Toronto and Tokyo. Her first performance as an artist with The Royal Ballet was in Cinderella. She then performed at short notice in the world premiere of Liam Scarlett's Asphodel Meadows.

Since joining The Royal Ballet, she has also danced in China, at the Bolshoi in Moscow, Taiwan, Japan, Barcelona, Monaco, New York, Washington and Chicago. During the summer of 2017 she will perform in Kazakhstan and Australia, Brisbane. In July 2014 she was invited to perform in a gala in Bogota, Colombia on the occasion of the re-opening of the newly restored Teatro Cristobal Colon, in the presence of President Juan Manuel Santos. In August 2014 she performed Kitri's "Pas de deux" (Don Quixote) at a gala in Milan.

She danced her Principal debut as Juliet in Romeo&Juliet at the start of The Royal Ballet Season 2015–16, when The Royal Ballet was celebrating 50 years since Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet premiered at the Royal Opera House in 1965. The role was originally danced by Margot Fonteyn. Amongst other roles Naghdi will dance the Principal roles of Sugar Plum in "Nutcracker' and Princess Aurora in "Sleeping Beauty" during the 2016–2017 Season.

Honours