William Bracewell and Reece Clarke promoted to Principal dancers at The Royal Ballet

We are delighted that alumni William Bracewell and Reece Clarke have both been promoted to Principal dancer at The Royal Ballet.

William Bracewell is originally from Swansea and becomes the first Welsh Principal dancer at The Royal Ballet. He trained at White Lodge from the age of 11, and while at the School, won the 2008 Young British Dancer of the Year Award and the Grand Prix at the 2010 Youth America Grand Prix.

In 2010, William graduated from the School and joined Birmingham Royal Ballet. He was promoted to First Artist in 2012 and to Soloist in 2014. He originated the role le Roi Soleil, or Louis XIV, in David Bintley’s The King Dances in 2015, for which he won Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) at the 2015 National Dance Awards. He joined The Royal Ballet in 2017, becoming First Soloist in 2018.

Reece Clarke, from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, was a Junior Associate and subsequently joined White Lodge in 2006, also at the age of 11. He was the last of four brothers to attend The Royal Ballet School, the first time in the School’s history that four boys from the same family have all trained here.

While at the School, Reece won the 2012 Young British Dancer of the Year, and the Lynn Seymour Award in 2013. He graduated into the Company during the 2013/14 season. He was promoted to First Artist in 2016, the same year he won the Emerging Artist Award at the National Dance Awards. He was then promoted to Soloist in 2017 and First Soloist in 2020.

Our warmest congratulations to William and Reece.