Gary Avis

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English ballet dancer

title: "Gary Avis" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["living-people", "year-of-birth-missing-(living-people)", "people-educated-at-the-royal-ballet-school", "dancers-of-the-royal-ballet", "english-national-ballet-dancers", "english-male-ballet-dancers", "entertainers-from-ipswich", "20th-century-british-ballet-dancers", "21st-century-british-ballet-dancers", "english-lgbtq-dancers", "members-of-the-order-of-the-british-empire"] description: "English ballet dancer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Avis" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary English ballet dancer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox dancer"]

FieldValue
nameGary Avis
honorific_suffixMBE
imageDarcey Bussell retirement 2007.jpg
caption(Left to right) Carlos Acosta, Darcey Bussell and Gary Avis at the curtain call of Bussell's farewell performance
birth_date
birth_placeIpswich, England
educationBird College
The Royal Ballet School
occupationballet dancer
partnerTim Holder
website
current_groupThe Royal Ballet
former_groupsK-ballet
English National Ballet
::

| name = Gary Avis | honorific_suffix = MBE | image = Darcey Bussell retirement 2007.jpg | alt = | caption = (Left to right) Carlos Acosta, Darcey Bussell and Gary Avis at the curtain call of Bussell's farewell performance | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Ipswich, England | residence = | nationality = | citizenship = | education = Bird College The Royal Ballet School | occupation = ballet dancer | years_active = | home_town = | height = | spouse = | partner = Tim Holder | children = | website = | current_group = The Royal Ballet | former_groups = K-ballet English National Ballet | dances = | module =

Gary Avis MBE is an English ballet dancer, who was a principal character artist and senior ballet master with The Royal Ballet, London, until his retirement in 2025.

Early life

Avis was born in Ipswich. He did not start ballet until he was 12. He then studied musical theatre at Bird College in Kent. Avis later started training at The Royal Ballet School in London after a teacher from Bird College filled in the application form for him.

Career

Avis joined The Royal Ballet in 1989, and became a soloist in 1995. In 1999, he co-founded K-ballet in Japan. In 2002, he joined the English National Ballet as a First Soloist before returning to the Royal Ballet in 2004. He was made Principal Character Artist the following year. In 2019, Avis was made Senior Ballet Master. He had portrayed character roles such as Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker, Von Rothbart in Swan Lake and Prince Gremin in Onegin. His role creations include Woolf Works, for which he danced with Alessandra Ferri. His retirement from The Royal Ballet was announced in November 2025.

Avis is a frequent partner of Darcey Bussell. In her final performance, which was broadcast live, Avis danced with Bussell and Carlos Acosta in Song of the Earth. Avis later danced in Bussell and Katherine Jenkins's tour, Viva la Diva and on Strictly Come Dancing, where Bussell was a judge. in a sequence titled 'Spirit of the Flame', choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon and composed by David Arnold. Bussell flew to the stage on a flaming phoenix and when landing was met by Avis, Jonathan Cope, Edward Watson, Nehemiah Kish and over 200 ballet dancers, after which the Olympic Flame was extinguished.

Avis won the National Dance Awards for Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) in 2011 and 2019. He was made an MBE in 2018. He also has an honorary doctorate from the University of Suffolk, and had worked with the Art and Culture Fund at Suffolk Community Foundation.

Personal life

Avis is in a civil partnership with Tim Holder. They live in rural Suffolk.

References

References

  1. "Gary Avis — People — Royal Opera House".
  2. "GARY AVIS MBE "In Conversation"".
  3. "Gary Avis 2007".
  4. "Gary Avis". Royal Opera House.
  5. Black, Becky. (12 July 2019). "The Royal Ballet announces promotions, leavers and joiners for the 2019/20 season". Royal Opera House.
  6. Webber, Christine. (11 May 2015). "Gary Avis: 'No one's ever lonely in a dance class'". The Telegraph.
  7. Wild, Stephi. "Gary Avis Retires From The Royal Ballet".
  8. (7 June 2007). "Suffolk dancer stars in Darcey farewell". East Anglian Daily Times.
  9. (29 April 2008). "Glamour gig for Gary". East Anglian Daily Times.
  10. "Gary Avis Official Website - Spirit of the Flame - Olympic Closing Ceremony 2012".
  11. "Spirit of the flame". London 2012.
  12. (23 January 2012). "2011 UK National Dance Awards – Winners Announced". Dance Tabs.
  13. (20 February 2020). "The National Dance Awards 2019/20". Dancing Times.
  14. Gibbon, Amy. (12 October 2018). "Suffolk ballet star Gary Avis receives MBE at Buckingham Palace". East Anglian Daily Times.
  15. Mortimer, Lynne. (4 April 2019). "Ballet Star Gary Avis in conversation with Christine Webber". Ipswich Star.
  16. Lambert, Victoria. (30 August 2019). "I know how hard being a boy who loves ballet can be". The Telegraph.

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