Wayne Sleep
Wayne Sleep won a Leverhulme Scholarship to the Royal Ballet School in 1961 and joined the Royal Ballet Company in 1966. Later he became a Principal Dancer and had numerous roles created for him, by – amongst others – Ashton, MacMillan, de Valois, Layton, Nureyev and Neumeier. He was a Guest Artist with several ballet companies, including English National, London City, Scottish, Capab, and London Contemporary Dance. Recently he danced Ugly Sister in Ashton’s Cinderella with the Royal Ballet in Covent Garden, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and in Tokyo.
Acting: Puck, Aerial, Feste, Tony Lumpkin, Truffaldino, Pinnochio, Soldier (in Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale).
Musicals: Mr Mistofeles (Cats), Child Catcher (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), Emcee (Cabaret), Odlio (The Point).
Song and dance all in the West End: Uncle Willie (High Society), Puck (Benjamin Britten’s Opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
Choreography: Hot Shoe Show (BBC TV); Carousel, Salad Days, Savoy Suite (English National Ballet); Roll Over Jehovah, Aspects Of Dance, World Of Classical Ballet, History Of Dance, David And Goliath (London Contemporary Dance Theatre); Winding Road (London City Ballet); Song And Dance (Toronto); Hollywood And Broadway, and for the National Youth Ballet Wonderland (Scenes From Alice), Cinderella and Toad.
He directed, choreographed and appeared in his own revue of dance Dash for five West End seasons culminating in a world tour.
Wayne has been a judge on the BBC television’s prime time weekly show Strictly Dance Fever and starred in The Hot Shoe Show for two years. Appointed OBE in 1998 and received honorary degrees from the Universities of Exeter and Teesside, he is a patron of the British Ballet Organisation and Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Dance and a trustee of the Royal Ballet Benevolent Fund.
He has two entries in the Guiness Book Of Records. His publications include Variations On Wayne Sleep and his autobiography Precious Little Sleep and he has now set up a charity The Wayne Sleep Foundation to help aspiring yougsters, and continues to pass on his knowledge at his dance workshops throughout the world.